Life Rings
by SaxyLady
Summary: A young women is found kissing death outside of RS,Doc takes her under his wing to try to get her to remember everything that has happened to her... what she remembers will change the lives of everyone...forever. Doc/OC father/daughter PLEASE R&R!COMPLETE
1. Really tough Love

For the record, I do not own any of the characters from "Cars" the movie. Their Pixar's not mine, I own the other ones =P Also… NO FLAMES! I know I suck as a writer; I do this just for the enjoyment, not for a job. So I hope you enjoy it…

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Life Rings 

Chapter One: Really tough love.

"Daddy please, I'll be good for now on! Just please, give me one more chance!" A young women's voice shouting her worthless pleases into the darkness. The single light in the room shined above the helpless victim, showing her weakened damaged frame, reviling her fears." You know what happens when you disobey me. You've been through this too many times!" the dark shadow known as "daddy" spoke, frustration filled his deep voice. "I'm afraid that I wasn't tough enough on you before. I have to…take things up a notch." The young mustang shivered the beatings that she received, the torture that she's endured, the emotional abuse that showed her" father's love"… that wasn't enough?

With a quick movement from the leaders tire, the gang swarmed around her shaking body. Chains and metal in there grasps, ready for some hell rising as they chuckled eagerly for their signal. Inching ever closer to her, sensing her adrenaline rising, the panic starting to build. "Wait!?!" her outburst of panic, "I never knew that I was suppose to kill him! You never told me that I-"

"Enough!" He shouted, his voice booming through the "safe" house. "I am sick and tired of having to put up with this; this has gone on long enough." A slight pause, as the leader smirked at the idea that popped in his head. "Finish her."

The mob gained in on their target, the weak mustang shouted her last attempted out of this beating circle. "You will kill you only living Daughter? You want to watch what left of your family and of your past die because you are disappointed in her? What kind of a father are you?" Her voice was a little stronger this time, knowing she was pulling something in her father's emotions. The father froze, as his face dropped, the memories of his once family flooded through his vision. Then he smiled, "You know what, that really hits home." The mustang looked at him for the first time that day "how do you mean?"

"Well if it wasn't for you guys, and with a little help from your mother I would of never found out…" he smirked "that I NEVER wanted to be a father anyways!" the mustang froze at his menacing laughter, "no" she whispered softly to herself, the gang coming closer cornering her, moving her away from the light. "No." she repeated again as the air was getting thin, hard for her to breath, there wasn't enough space. Then her bumper hit the back wall, totally surrounded by her father's minions, excitement screaming in their eyes. "NO!" was the last thing heard from her voice, which was quick taken over by clashing of metal… and a dark laugh. "Now boys, don't leave a mess when you're done. You can't leave her here to rot when you're running a business." He chuckled lightly at himself as he quietly made an exit, letting his flesh and blood die… under his own word.

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I know really short, but if I added the other part to it, it wouldn't sound right. So the next chapter will be better… I hope.


	2. Am I Alive?

For the record, I do not own any of the characters from "Cars" the movie. Their Pixar's not mine, I own the other ones =P Also… NO FLAMES! I know I suck as a writer; I do this just for the enjoyment, not for a job. So I hope you enjoy it…

FYI _ 'if the words are like this'_ it's her thinking.

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**Life Rings **

**Chapter 2:**

Sound is a big part in life; they can stir up memories, feeling, or even wake someone up. That was the only thing she could rely on was her hearing. Her sight went black, her limbs burned by the constant breaking. When she started hearing wasn't a concern, the main problem was, why couldn't she remember anything? Even then that didn't bother her much, on the count that she couldn't think with this constant beeping in the background. Beeping… constant rhythmic beeping, Du-dah…Du-dah…Du-dah. Annoying, but at the same time a relief. The sound of life pounded in her head. She had to focus on the beeping, focus on her breathing, focus on staying alive. There was something, she needed to stay alive for… something…something important.

Voices? When did someone come into the room? She didn't hear a door creak open, or even a sound of a purring engine. All she heard was two voices talking to each other. One was harsh… stern, very formal in a male voice. This voice did most of the talking, almost like waiting for an answer or wanting information. The other voice was much calmer, wiser, with a soft rasp to it, male also. She felt some of her frame relax a bit, some of the burning subside from her injuries. She felt safe with that voice in the room, trusting her that everything will be alright… and she barely even knew him. He could have been a rapist, and she would still be at ease.

Her hearing had to be sharper, she had to start understanding what was going on for her to survive. That's one thing she did know, she needed to know what she was about to face. The formal voice was talking, the noises that came out started to form into words, "-and you want me to search the area again?" the voice sounded a little tired from what she heard, and maybe another emotion... Annoyance?

The other voice sighed, "If actions are necessary, then yes. This isn't the first time someone just randomly popped up here. But…" he took a pause, maybe thinking for a minute. "It looks like she's not the only one that came here last night."

Someone shifted their weight, "someone else?" the formal voice questioned.

"You think she did this to herself?"

A pause, "Are you saying that she was beaten?"

'_Beaten? Wh-what the hell happened to me?'_

"No", the gentle voice spoke low, feeding the seriousness of the situation to his words. "No, I fear that it was much more than that…"

'_W-what?!? Someone wanted to… to…'_

The steady beeping noise started to accelerate, causing the two voices to drop their conversation. Someone rolled a crossed the room towards the beeping noise. "Doc is she alright?" the formal voice spoke out of concern.

The smooth voice, named 'Doc' responded to his friend. "Fine, she's fine. Her heart rate rose, like she was frightened." Then he let out a soft 'hmm' as he exhaled, thinking. "I think she's coming too."

"It takes a week for her to wake up? I was expecting longer, due to the fact that…

The beeping rose again, sharper this time. Doc responded "Sheriff, maybe you should leave." The serious voice paused before adding "we'll continue this later", before rolling out of the room.

Doc sighed, "at least I can relax a bit." The beeping in the background started slowing back down to normal rhythm. Doc chuckled, "you agree? Well that's a start." His soft rough voice had a smile to it. She felt the one side of her mouth rise slightly; if she could she'd open her eyes to see him. Just to be able…

Her eyes slowly opened, the brightness of the room caused her vision to blur on spot. The figure before her moved slightly, causing her attention to focus on it. The Figure started to focus onto a cobalt blue, Hudson hornet that blinked approvingly. His crystal blue eyes seemed to see right through her soul, but they didn't seem to seek harm, just answers. The room was white and bright hospital room, with a homey feel. Her body was covered in wires and monitors, tubes and sensors, she didn't know if she was really alive.

She looked back up to the Hudson with her newly found vision, wondering if the other voice really did leave the room. The Hudson's eyes were warm, trying to seem more "friendly" to his patient.

"Good morning," the Hudson cracked a smile "it's nice to see that you're awake."

She blinked, making him aware that she was listening.

"How are you feeling? Any sharp pain, discomfort?" his raspy voice sounded professional, almost like it was rehearsed.

She paused, thinking about that. She never really took the time to worry about how much she ached. Why she ached? What made her ach? She was too fascinated by the new scene to start caring about herself.

She was used to pain, but she wasn't used to answering questions concerning her. This is new…

"Miss? Are you alright?" The Hudson asked again, concern laced his words when his wasn't getting a response.

"I-"She barley rasped out before she began to cough. Lack of use irritated her throat, and thirst made things even harder. When was the last time she drank something?

"Don't hurt yourself." He stated gently. "It's alright if you can talk yet."

She swallowed hard, hoping it would moisten her throat to make the word, "Drink?"

His eyes flashed with realization, as he went out of the room. Before she even realized that he totally left her, he was back with a can of oil. "Here, drink this."

The oil can was placed in front of her. She took a slow sip, letting the oil coat her ever burning throat, and then tried speaking once more. "I'm alright." A little raspy voice came from her frame.

His eye ridge rose slightly, "Are you sure? Nothing is achy, burning, sore…anything?"

"I'm sore, and I do ach. But I'm alright." She didn't like complaining, she'd rather just move on with the subject.

The figure sighed, knowing far too well that she wasn't going to give him a straight answer. "Alright then, are you up to answer a few questions? I don't want to stress you out, but right now we're at a loss for words about who you are, and where you came from."

She swallowed some more oil before she spoke. "Okay."

He nodded "Alright, I guess we can start with your name."

"My name?" She paused.

"Yes your name."

"My name is…" she froze. '_This is common sense! Your name is…?'_

She blinked a few time, surprised. Did she honestly forget her own name?

"You can tell me, I'm not here to hurt you. You can trust me." His tone was sincere, and his word is trustworthy. She can feel it, but the problem isn't trust it's remembering. She can't remember who she is, where's she's from, who her parents were, God she couldn't remember which side was her left and which was her right?

"Sir…I can't remember a thing."

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So I feel that this is coming out better than planned. Thanks for the comments! I really appreciate them!


	3. What pain looks like

**If you're reading this, you should already know that I don't own the characters from '**_**Cars' **_**they are Pixar's. I own the obvious ones. Thanks for reading!!!**

**Warning! Doc might seem a little "darker" here. But don't worry! He's not always like that.**

**Life Rings**

**Chapter 3: What pain looks like**

"You can't remember anything?" The caretaker spoke with an even tone, to the point that it sounded more like a statement then a question.

'_How old am I? When's my birthday? Who's my family? What happened last week?...' _she felt her eyes burn in frustration_ ,'what happened to __**me**__?'_

"No, I can't." she said lowly.

The car that sat in front of her sighed, "I was afraid of that. You might have experienced too much trauma when… _that_ happened." He rolled over to his cabinets and grabbed a familiar tool to her, the tool that checks your eyes.

"I just want to check something." He rolled over to her and shined a bright light in her eyes, making her lose focus for a split second. "Everything seems to be in order." He shut the light off and pulled away from her, setting the tool down. "You might have a case of 'Amnesia' caused by stress or possible injury that you might have experienced. I don't think it'll last long, but until then I want you to rest up. You body is still healing, and it can't take too much stress, so no driving at all until things start to clear up."

She shifted, noticing what he meant by 'healing' when her body reminded her of its condition. "Sir, may I ask you a question?"

"You may."

She bit her lip, knowing she shouldn't be knowing this information, but it just been eating at her to ask, "Do you really believe someone tried to hurt me?"

He paused, not expecting that type of question. "That depends on what you want to believe."

She looked away from him, not getting a straight answer kind of hurt. "Oh."

There was silence in the room; he shifted uncomfortably under the awkward pause. "What I mean is I'm not sure either. I just don't want to…" he sighed, finding it harder than what it really is. "It's complicated."

She felt him holding back, she smiled slightly, "Sir, you can tell me straight up. You don't have to shield me away like some frightened child. I am a big girl, I can handle it." She spoke very seriously, but traced with amusement to lighten the mood.

His grill curved upward for a second, just long enough for it to be noticed. Then his face went back to the neutral state, "I don't want to cause anymore stress."

"Sir, I-"

"Enough with the Sir's please. You can just call me 'Doc'."

She blinked, "yes sir- ah I mean Doc."

His grill curved again, this time his smile started poking though. She smiled with him, she felt comfortable with him. Seeing the smile shown on his face was uplifting to this ordeal, which left another troubling question at hand…

"Doc, I just want to know-." She didn't finish her sentence, she wasn't sure if she did want to know. She wasn't sure if she could react like a "big girl" if she got her answer.

Doc's smile disappeared again. "You can ask me anything."

"Doc, I want to see how bad it is." She spoke slowly. She looked up at him, his crystal eyes were full of concern as he understood what she meant.

"Well," he spoke slowly, being extremely cautious," I guess I can get something for you. If that's what you really want."

She nodded slowly, preparing herself for more pain.

Doc went over to the other side of the room to get a working mirror, which was used for looking at difficult places when he is doing routine checkups, and rolled it in front of her. The mirror faced the ceiling tile. "Are you sure this is what you want? You don't have to do this you know?"

She thought about it for a while, the nodded. She had to know what she got into

"Alright", Doc lifted his tire to tilt the mirror to face a broken disfigured body staring back at her. The gashes, the melted parts, the dents, parts of her fender stuck out violently in weird ways, and that was only the first couple of glances. The paint color, she wasn't sure, the majority was exposed steel and metal stained with…oil. Her eyes swear that they could see hint's of blue, like ocean blue bits on the frame, but in this state she wasn't sure anymore. The front was crumpled and twisted, and the roof was dented… the only thing she can recognize on this strange body is the stunning, vibrant violet eyes that stared back at her. This disfigured body…was hers.

The violet eyes started to weld with tears as they traced her bottom eye lid. She didn't feel like crying, she wasn't upset or devastated, she felt numb. She blinked, the tears escaping her eyes as they traced down her twisted frame. She was physically crying at this catastrophic sight, she couldn't help it. Doc tilted the mirror and pushed it out of the way, to block the life changing image. "Miss?"

'_Something happened like this before. Something that caused the ring to show…'_

"Miss, are you alright?" His voice was concerned, emotional stress was the worst, and he knew.

'_The ring showed, and he was furious, going after the others…'_

"Kiddo!" Doc touched her tire, snapping her attention from the wall that she was burning a hole in. She lifted her sight to his eyes; a mixture of emotions filled his eyes. He seemed scared by her reaction, afraid of what might happen, what did he read on her face? Was it really that bad?

"Don't scare me like that." He stated sternly. "You shouldn't have exposed yourself so soon, if you weren't going to take it well."

She swallowed, "sorry, I just wasn't expecting to look this bad. I'm fine now."

Doc shook his head. "You shouldn't keep your emotions bottled up."

She raised a frame, "I'm not! I was just surprised that's all."

Doc raised a frame as well, "You're not disturbed by what you saw? Frustration isn't burning with in you, knowing that no matter what you look like later, this memory is still going to haunt you? The scars will always be there, mocking you every time you look in the mirror. Reminding you of every pain staking day that you have to go through in the end, the horrible thoughts, the feelings, holding it all in so that no one will know that your hurt." His voice started to rise, "and the people… staring back, horrified of what you've been through, desperate to help you out but just continued to give you pity to the point of contemplating death?" He paused, realizing he spoke more than he should of. She stared at him tears streaming down her face, her bottom lip quivering.

"Kiddo, I-I apologies I never meant to sound so… angst. That was very unprofessional of me and that has never happened to me in my whole entire career."

"Doc," She said her voice quivered.

"I understand if you don't accept my apologies."

"No, what happened to you, to cause you so much pain?" Her voice was concerned, her eyes full of tears.

Doc smiled weakly, "You don't need to worry about me. All you need to worry about is yourself."

She shook her head, "No one should be left alone like that. You seemed so broken, and forgotten. I want to make things better for everyone."

Doc's smile widened, she completely forgot about herself for the concern of someone else, she was going to get along great with the others here. "It was a long time ago, you don't need to worry, I'm fine now. I'm sorry you had to hear that sudden outburst. I guess I was afraid that you would… turn out like me."

She blinked what was left of her tears away, "how do you mean?"

Doc's eyes twinkled, turned purple in the setting sun, "Well, I was in a similar situation, broken and confused. And when I found out what I looked like, and what was my new life… I lost everything." He went along side her frame, and leaned up against her, "You know what I said about how people just fed pity?"

"Yeah?"

"Your different, I can honestly say that in my years of being a doctor- no scratch that. In a very long time, I have never met someone like you. It's nice to meet someone that I can actually trust. At least…" He glanced over at her in a playful way. "At least I think so."

She smiled "Yes you can."

Doc smiled wider, he hasn't felt this relieved in a long time. "Good, now all I need you to do is to trust me."

She smirked " I think I could."

He chuckled "Trust me when I say that you'll start to look like your old self soon, and that everything is going to be fine."

She raised a frame, "but weren't you concerned about …"

"But didn't I say that you're different then everyone else?"

She paused thinking about the conversation, "Yes."

Doc winked," just trust me and everything will be alright."

"I can do that."

His smile widened "I can tell we're going to get along just fine."

Her smile widened, she could feel it too. He trusted her with something personal, even if it was a slip up, on the first day. She just hoped that she was just as trusting when something came up.

He got up from her side to leave the room, "I'm going to get something to eat. Do you want anything?"

She nodded quickly, "Yes that sounds great, thanks!"

He chuckled "and then after dinner, I'll start making some repairs so you can get back on your wheels. The town is excited to meet you. It's been awhile since someone new had popped up in between racing seasons."

"A town? Where's that?"

"You're in the middle of Radiator Springs; it's a nice little town full of good folk."

" I can't wait."

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**Sorry about the little 'darkness' there… I felt that his past still haunts him. BUT I swear he won't get that depressive anymore!**


	4. A Nightmare of a Memory

**Again everyone should know that I don't own anyone from the movie **_**'cars'**_** their Pixar's, I own the other ones. Thank you ****LightningAndDoc**** and ****Sally Jonson****, for the wonderful comments! I never felt so excited to write the next chapter, because of you guys! Thanks!**

**FYI ***_when typed like this with the stars it's a dream*_

**Life Rings**

**Chapter 4: a Nightmare of a memory **

_*"You monster!" his words echoed in the 'safe house' as the light flickered above her. The little mustang screamed back to him in fright, tears pouring down her face. "You leave her alone you black hearted scumbag!" a voice called from behind her, her emotions boiling over. The mustang turned around to see a two toned 60'Chrysler 300 special Gran Tourismo, her little fins stood out from her body in a deep navy while the lower half was a cloud blue. Her midnight blue eyes sparkled with tears, the eyes of her mothers._

"_Kendal, you shut your mouth. You're the cause of this… this hell! Bring in your mutant ability and cursing us all!" Her father spoke fiercely; he's green eyes fully of hate. His green streaks stood out from his black frame, covering his custom muscle car body. No one really knows what his make and model is, his features were sharp and powerful. He almost looked like a dodge charger, but… changes were made._

"_And now," he continued, pointed right at the young mustang, "She's affected too! My children are all affected by this… this…curse!"_

"_Jack, don't you DARE blame her for it! She had no idea; I had no idea that she was going to receive the 'ring' as well!" The mother shouted back, leveling his tone of voice._

_Jack was silent, looking over at the little mustang that was her daughter, then back at his 'wife'. "She doesn't seem to know how to control it yet."_

"_What do you expect Jack, she's only 6! She-",Jack smacked Kendal in the face, causing her to look away from him "you will learn to shut your mouth."_

_She turned back, Her midnight eyes vibrant, as a ring showed around them. White, White like snow rings around her beautiful blue eyes. "You need to learn how to accept the fact that she's your only daughter left…" Her eyes laced with tears, "You killed the rest of my children! Why can't you at least spare hers? She's done nothing wrong, and her ring isn't fully activated yet! She's just a child for God sake!"_

_Jack paused again, "she is a child…" he looked over at the little mustang, the ocean blue paint shimmered in the light, revealing her scars. "Maybe I can train her to be normal." He lunged at her, grabbing her by the tire and threw her out of the prison, "maybe separating you two will make her normal again."_

"_Jack, you can't make me not see my baby! She's the only thing left in my life that keeps me going!" her voice was losing strength and it quivered with pure agony._

_Jack smirked, "Good, you'll be doing me a favor."_

_Kendal stared at her daughter getting dragged a crossed the concrete floor. "Alice, you stay strong, for me, and for you brother and sister."_

_The little mustang's lip quivered, "mommy, don't leave me!"_

"_I won't baby, I'll always be with you," her ring rippled with energy," No matter what happens."_

_The door quickly shut behind the two , as the room became silent for a few more minutes, before the walls echoed with the sound of sobbing, of a broken heart.*_

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The Mustang shot up awake, her heart rate pulsing violently on the monitor. Panting, and covered with sweat. Her eyes jetted around the room to look for Jack, to look for her mother… But could only find that it was the end of a dream, a realistic dream… or was it a nightmare, a realistic nightmare?

She shivered at the fact that it might not be a nightmare at all. Dreams shouldn't feel so familiar to her, dreams she shouldn't be feeling anything.

She blinked to clear her vision to find tear slowly rolling down her newly shaped fender, was she _really_ crying throughout that dream?

The monitor slowed the beeping down to a normal rate, her breathing became regular again, but her heart hurt, and the "dream" still fresh in her mind. She could almost hear her mother screaming her name.

Her name! She remembered her name! Alice, Alice… something, Alice Link-… Linkheart? Alice Linkheart. That sounded right. She remembered she went by her mother's maiden name, Kendal Linkheart. She hated her father, Jack…

The doors busted open to a worried Doctor, His eyes wide, frantic looking. "Kiddo, are you alright?" He said quickly.

The raw mustang nodded, her frame was in the middle of being worked on. She lost a lot of the "victim" quality, and now started looking like an actual 64'mustang. "I just had a bad dream that's all."

Doc gave a sigh of relief, "I heard the alarm in my room going off, Your heart must have been racing."

He took another deep breath to even out his nerves, "How bad of a dream?"

"Enough…" She simply said, as she shook off the tear that was still dripping down her frame.

Doc read her features as he went over to her side. "You want to talk about it?"

"It was weird…" She simple said monotone, "It was so familiar to me."

Doc raised a frame, "You recognized it?"

"yeah, it was like a memory." She closed her eyes, trying to let the dream play again. "I felt like I've been there before."

"Was it your accident?" Doc referred to her frame being the way it is. He had been calling it an 'accident' every since he started repairing her.

"No, I was little… my mom was in it… I think my dad was too." Her eye frames crunched together in frustration. "I'm starting to lose it."

"Tell me what you can, it might help you remember." Doc nudged her side encouragingly.

"Well, I was in a dark damp place, like a prison or something, and my mother was in there with me. My father came in and started going after me, my mother defended me. They started arguing about something…agh! I can't remember what."

"It's okay, dreams are funny that way."

"Yeah, I can remember my mom calling my name, and telling me to be strong. My father took me away from my mom."

Doc caught something in that sentence, "Your name?"

"Yes, My name, Alice Linkheart."

Doc smiled "Well it's nice to finally meet you Alice, I'm Doctor Hudson. But you can call me 'Doc' for short."

She chuckled. "Well, at least I think it is?"

Doc nudged her again, "Don't sweat it kid, your memory is coming back in small bits. Pretty soon you'll remember everything."

She smiled weakly, "yeah remember everything…" If that was one of her memories, she wasn't sure if she wanted her full memory.

Doc raised an eye frame, listening to the tone she used. _'She needs some cheering up.'_

"Hey, maybe if you behave yourself, I can take you over to flo's today. That is, if you let me get some work done." He smiled playfully at her.

Her smile brightened tenfold, "Really? You think I'm ready for that?"

"Well, all I really need to do is repair a couple ball joints and struts, and I can see you back on your tires by the end of the day. I'm not saying that you could drive radically and go off racing, but I think a little drive would hurt too much. You're a quick healer. But, you need to keep me posted on how your feeling, if it hurts, then we'll wait for tomorrow."

"Then what are we waiting for?" excitement filling her voice.

"Breakfast, I can get quit grumpy if I don't have my meal."

She chuckled causing Doc smile. "You want anything?" he asked

"Yeah, a can will do me good. Thanks"

Doc nodded, "Alright I'll tell the folks."

Doc gently pushed the twin doors opened, the sun light poured in life for a split second. She looked out of the window, threw the blinds. Doc rolled pasted the window to the other side of the building. She sighed, as she really wanted to see the town. She looked down at her tires, and realized she had none on. Looking around the room she spotted her tires, all flat and torn up.

"Crap…" she cursed at the fact that even if she wanted to, she couldn't escape. She was just going to have to wait till tonight to meet the others. She sighed again, letting her limbs go limp. She hated being locked up in a room by herself.

*_"Maybe I can train her to be normal." He lunged at her, grabbing her by the tire and threw her out of the prison, "maybe separating you two will make her normal again."*_

"Normal? What's wrong with me?" she whispered her question to no one. As all she can do is ponder the fact that her father hated her and her mom for being 'abnormal'…and wait for doc to return.

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I know! I could of continued it to make it longer…. But if I did that this would have been close to 3,000 words. And I don't want the reader to lose their train of thought and get bored.


	5. Welcome to the family

**FYI : I don't own '**_**cars' **_**or any of the characters that are found here. I own Alice!**

**Sorry it took so long to type…. I've been sick, and I couldn't think straight while I'm worried about passing out ='( plus it's a really big chapter… sorry if you get bored…**

**Life Rings:**

**Chapter 5: Welcome to the family**

Doc rolled back from his patient, examining his work. Grease covered his face in the oddest of places, as sweat beaded on the frame of his windshield, the sight of a worker. "How's that feel, better than before?"

Alice swiveled her tireless hub, no clicking or popping, just smooth rotation. She smiled, "Much better".

Doc smiled in return, "Good" he stated simply. He looked over her as a whole, all gashes were patched, dents were popped, broken parts were mended, and burned parts were replaced, cracks were filled, and things were reshaped… He was surprised on how much work he got done. She looked like a gray, patchy mustang. He sat in thought for a second, going through the mental checklist that all doctors had. Engine ran like he wouldn't believe, very smooth and quite, no knocking or thumping like he expected with the shape she came in with. Brakes were replaced, and fluids were filled, he was forgetting something….

He went over to the lift, looking back on his patient, he need to do something before he put her on her tires again…

He blinked at his own stupidity, "I'll get you a set of tires from Luigi's. Your set…" he drifted off motioning to the poor, ripped up set that lied limply on the floor, "well you know".

Alice shrugged, she knew she needed new tires.

"I'll be right back"

"Umm…"Alice said before chuckling "don't you want to clean up a little first?"

Doc raised a eye frame and glanced at his working mirror, understanding what she was getting at. "Oh!" Doc gave out a hearty chuckle, "Well look at that". He turned towards his personal quarters, slowly making his way over. "I'm going to wash up; I'll call Luigi to come a deliver the tires instead." He paused looking over at her and smiled, "the sooner the better for you. I want you to get some fresh air today". He chuckled, pushing the doors to his quarters.

Alice was left alone, with the cursed mirror, in the same room. The mirror sat there in front of her, staring at the floor, afraid of looking up at her, afraid of causing pain again. Alice's mind was uneasy, Doc was extra careful not to let her see herself while he was working on her. Curiosity was eating at her gut, Doc said she looked like she wasn't in an "accident" at all, but part of her wanted to just tip the mirror just enough to see herself. She reached over as best as she could, the tip of her fender bumped the mirror a little closer to her. She exhaled a breath before she reached once more with her bare rim and touched the frame of the mirror. She paused, the rim still touching the frame, waiting for the command from the body to move.

She couldn't do it.

It wasn't because she didn't want to see herself, if it was _just_ that she would have tipped that mirror off of its stand. But… Doc kept telling her that she looked amazing; there was no evidence that she was ever hurt to begin with. All he kept saying was she just needed a paint job, and she would be good as new. She tapped the mirror slightly, turning a little in her direction, if she looked at herself, would that make her selfish?

She moved her rim higher on the frame of the mirror; Doc kept reassuring her that she looked fine. Her eyes closed, as she quickly pushed the mirror away, she didn't want to see herself. She wanted to trust Doc with everything, she never had a true friend before, and she's not going to risk losing it. Even over something stupid like looking at herself in the mirror.

Then out of the blue, the main doors busted open as something yellow bounced all around her field of vision. "Ah, you must-a be Alice, no?" The little Fiat raised an eye frame as he spoke with his thick Italian accent. His energetic brown eyes examined her, gasped and rolled back. _'Maybe I should of looked in the mirror…'_

"Ah Alice, you-a most beautiful! I have neva seen such-a car like-a yourself."

'…_what?'_

"You're such a sleek, powerful car, like-a racecar. Do you race?"

Alice blinked

"Oh! My mistake-a! Where are my manors! I is Luigi, Greatest tire salesmen in the whole entire world-a!" He chuckled light heartily, Alice paused feeling a smile on her face, she liked Luigi.

"Well… maybe not-a whole world-a but most of it!"

Alice chuckled at his energy, "It's nice to meet you Luigi".

Then the doors flew open again to a small blue forklift, holding four brand new tires! "Ah Guido, Gracia! Here is mi amigo Guido, we go way back. He is the fastest pit stop crew you'll eva meet-a!"

Guido smiled, setting the tires on the ground, "Pit stop?".

"Nice to meet you too Guido," Alice greeted the electric forklift.

Guido raised a eye frame, answering with Italian. Alice paused, looking over at Luigi, "I don't speak Italian."

"Oh, He just-a said that you are a charming woman and that he is blessed to be in your presence. We have been waiting a long-a time! To see you."

Both of them smiled, a charming team they were. "Now, Let's get-a started! Doc said that you couldn't wait to get out in the open air. And so we shall honor his words! And ours! Alright, Guido!"

"Pit stop!" Guido chanted as he revved up his air gun. Then he was a blur, zooming around the room as Alice moved slightly as Guido worked.

Then, what felt like seconds, the whirling blue figured stopped dead along- side his friend. Alice blinked; "Wow" was the only thing that escaped her grill. She shook her tires, the weight was different but it felt great, she was one more step ahead with her healing, all she needed to do was just remember everything that has happened to her…

"There, you see, everything is better now." Luigi smiled as he waited for a response.

"Thank you for your help."

"I thought I heard something going on in here." Doc spoke as he rolled back into the room, de greased. "thank you Luigi for stopping by."

"Ah Doc, it's the least we can do!" Luigi smile widened as he looked over at Alice, "I was-a nice meeting you Alice." He bowed, as Guido mimicked him.

Doc smiled, "Alright, we'll see you guys later, I'll have Alice down there in a few."

"Guido this is most exciting! We must tell everyone!" Luigi and Guido took off together, leaving the poor main door to swing violently back and forth once more.

Doc looked over at Alice, shrugging "Luigi and Guido are a little on the hyper side, but completely harmless."

Alice chuckled lightly, "I've noticed".

"Everyone here is like that, energetic and friendly, Mater especially. " Doc chuckled lightly, "he's quite the character."

Alice swallowed "Right, the town…"

Doc raised a frame, a smile still on his face. "Oh don't worry, it's not very big. The folk around here are like a family. You'll fit in just fine."

Alice took a slow breath, suddenly getting nervous, "Alright".

Doc rolled over to the lift and lowered the lever to the 'release' position. Alice slowly sank to the ground, the air slowly making a hissing noise as it found an escape. The fresh, new tires squeaked against the well kept floor, her suspension creaking, adjusting to the new weight. She lifted her tire, feeling almost heavy to her for going so long without them it felt almost strange.

"Kiddo, are you alright?"

She looked over at Doc, a small smile on her face, "Yeah, just thinking".

Doc blinked in understanding, rolling over to the main door, holding it open. "Are you ready?"

Alice took in one last breath, and for the first time, in who knows how long, she started her engine. It purred lowly, richly, like a high performance engine. The ones you can only hear at the race tracks, however it was different, it was quiet, it wasn't loud and proud like racecars, the power that laid inside of that engine was kept hidden… until it needed to be used.

Her violet eyes sparkled, "let's go".

* * *

The sun was close to setting time, the light started painting colors a crossed the blue sky; the orange streaks brushing lightly on not only the clouds in the sky, but the valley below, and whoever lives on that valley. Doc, normal cobalt paint reflected that color of the sky as well. His paint had a newly found orange hue to it. Unlike Alice's unpainted, rough body work, it stayed its normal shade of gray; the orange couldn't quite reach her just yet.

The small town was quite and well kept. All the lights were off, except for the V8 café. The place was full of cars, like everyone from the town gathered here as a ritual. Alice knew she was welcomed here, but she could help but feel a little nervous, she didn't want to mess up.

Just as that thought popped in her head, Doc nudged her side comfortingly, "You're going to be just fine, you'll see."

Alice nodded slowly, "I know, tell my heart that."

Doc chuckled lowly, his low raspy voice made his whole body tremble, which still rested lightly on Alice's frame. "I know the feeling, I sometimes get that way when I have to sit at the podium, in front of all of those people."

Alice raised a frame, "The podium? Like a judge?"

"Didn't I say that this town is small?"

Alice chuckled, "Yes, yes you did, but I didn't know it was THIS small."

"Say what's small?" A drawled voice was heard from behind Alice, the voice was unfamiliar, making Alice freeze.

A rusty international tow truck rolled around the frozen victim with its missed matched tires, and his yellow buck teeth. His smile was goofy and crooked as his hazel eyes were overflowing with energy, "Hey! I knows you! you that gurl that I towed like, ah, sometime ago. And uh, Doc fixed yer up and you were out cold like you wus a sleepin'." He shifted, making Alice notice his missing hood, and headlight. "ah shoot, I forgot to in-tro-duce myself. My names Mater."

Alice raised a frame, "Mater?"

"Yeah like ta-mater just without the ta."

Alice smiled weakly at the redneck of the town, "Tamater? You mean Tomato?"

Mater raised a fame, "What? What ya'll talking 'bout To-Ma-to? I ain't heard of that in like never."

Doc leaned over to Alice to whisper without Mater hearing, "See what I mean by Character?"

Alice got it. "Ah nothin' May-ter? I was just… nevermind, I'm Alice."

"Shoot, your funny, making things up like to-ma-toes, I like you already!" He giggled at what he just said, "Say, maybe you and me can go tractor tippin' since then there Lightning just done ditched me."

"Mater, I'm sure Lightning has a good reason. He would never ditch you." Doc put in.

"Oh I know he's ditched me, he said that he's too tired to go tonight!" Mater pouted, "And I know all he did today is practice!"

"Well Mater, Practicing for a race takes a lot out of you. Do you even know how many laps he has to make to call it training?"

"Shoot, I know this one. It's like a high number… like seven."

Doc looked over at Alice, his crystal blue eyes talking for him, they seemed to say _'See, I told you, hyper but harmless.'_

"Well, I love to stay and chat, but I have to bring Alice over to meet the rest of the town." Doc said as he nudged Alice to start moving.

"Oh right! You goes ahead, I'm gunna have some REAL fun!" He smiled and revved his poor engine, skipping and misfiring all over the place… making Doc make a mental note to set him up for an appointment.

"Tractors, here I come!" He shouted excitedly as he took off down the rough pavement, thick smoke escaped his tail pipe, making Alice and Doc cough.

"I *cough, cough* I think he finally blew a head gasket." Doc cough a couple more times, the smoke still irritated his throat. Alice glared at Doc, "I know he's _different_ but I didn't-"

Doc's chuckling interrupted her sentence, "No-no, not in that way. I think his engine needs a couple of repairs. He doesn't take care of himself sometimes…" he looked over at her, his eyes sparkled with amusement. The orange setting sun still painted his sides with an orange hue, making his eyes turn almost purple…purple?

He nudged her side, "Come on, the rest of the town is waiting."

Alice nodded, following her doctor obediently by his side. Her mind buzzing with questions, it was pulling something out of her mind… Somewhere deep in her thoughts, her memories, she knew the answer. The word '_Ring'_ kept answering her questions… Why was she still alive? '_ring'. _Why was her mother locked up in her "dream"? _'ring'. _Why is someone after her? _'ring'_. Why was his eyes purple?...

'_ring, ring, ring… what do you mean ring? Like a wedding ring, a key ring…a ringing? What?'_

_Ring_

"Hey there Doc!" some female voice called her friend from a crossed the café, her sea foam green fins sliced through the air as she made her way over to them. Her movement stopped short when those light green eyes found Alice. Alice's heart sank…

"Hey honey, how ya feelin'?" She said with over enjoyment, see seemed thrilled to see the new comer.

"Um, I'm doing alright. I'm Alice." Alice said as she nodded once.

"It's nice to meet you Alice. I'm Flo, I'm the owner of this café with the finest fuel on route 66." She smiled a flashy smile. "here let me introduce you to everyone here." Just as she said that she nudged Alice to follow her, making Alice part from Doc for the first time.

"Alright honey, we'll start here with my husband, Ramone." The orange low-rider winked at Alice "Hello beautiful, when you need a paint job, Ramone will paint you up right. Because," He rolled closer to her, looking deep into her eyes, "We don't want to hide those gorgeous eyes of your from the world, do we?"

Alice looked away and shook her head, her face getting a little red.

"Don't worry; you can trust him, all his work I've seen was nothing less than perfect," Flo added, "Come on, theirs is more people to meet."

Alice was nudged away from the painter named Ramone, and brought to a big fire truck.

"Alice, this is Red. He's a little shy." Flo spoke with mother like tone to Alice as she greeted the fire truck.

"Hi Red," Alice spoke softly to him. Red didn't say anything, all he did was smile weakly and backed off a little bit, revealing a sleeping Ford model T.

"Oh, and that in the back is Lizzy," Flo answered her unasked question. Lizzy slept peacefully, and deeply, she didn't think that anything could wake her up.

"Over here is Luigi and Guido, I'm sure ya'll know each other by now." Flo smiled at Alice, as the two little Italians talked to each other in their native tongue.

"I can take it from here Flo." A younger voice called from behind. Alice turned to a sky blue Porsche rolling over to her; Alice's never would have thought that there was someone around her age here. This was somewhat comforting.

"Hi, I'm Sally, and welcome to Radiator Springs! I run the cozy cone motel, and lately running wheel well as well." She chuckled at her own little pun, as she lightly nudged her to follow her. "Here it is such a beautiful place, there's so much to see, and so much to do!" She sighed at the thought of the beautiful nights with the breathtaking views that made her fall in love with this town to begin with.

"I'm Alice, and already I can see what you mean. The sun rises, the sun sets, the colors that paint the sky in the evening light… I would love to have a look around."

"That's great! How about after your done meeting the family, we can show you around?"

Alice smiled, family… it wasn't really a town, it was just as Sally put it… a family. "I would love that."

"Alright, well, let's see… you've meet Ramone, Flo, Red, and Lizzy... Doc obviously, Luigi and Guido… Ah!" Sally grabbed her fender and pulled her over to the constant sound of talking. There sat a well painted van and a Amy Jeep, lightly having a disagreement over the government.

"Dude, you have to realize that the people were meant to be free, man. There was no law when the earth is made; the 'man' has to suck out our freedom." The van relaxed, flowing words aggravated the soldier.

"Because, hippy, without rules and laws, this world would be in chaos! Men will destroy man for anything unless we have rules." The soldier stated, making the Van defend his case.

"We'll we can teach people to love each other, love is some powerful stuff man."

Sally leaned over to Alice to whisper, "they do this all the time, that's Sarge the jeep over there and the Van is Fillmore. They look like that they can start a really fight, but there just harmless freedom fighters."

Alice smiled at their bickering… _'That reminds me of me and…'* _a picture of a male muscle, roadster custom, with red sides and black paint… smiling at her,* popped into her mind.

Sally pulled her out of her thoughts, as she moved her over to a road, with a red racecar up ahead, coming her way.

"Hey Sal, she's up?" The red racer casually rolled next to sally, nuzzling at her side affectionately. Sally smiled, "Yeah. Alice this is Lighting. Lighting, this is Alice."

Lighting looked over at Alice and smiled, "I'm sure she didn't need to introduce me, since you already know who I am."

Alice raised a frame, "Should I?"

Lightning's face light up in shock for a split second, "Well, yeah I'm a pretty famous racecar." Lightning crouched forward a little, his signature move. "Ka-chow… ring any bells?"

Alice stood unfazed, "No?"

Lightning's face fell. "Are you serious? Where are you from?"

Alice paused, thinking about that, "No idea."

"Alright Rookie that's enough, we don't want to stress herself out more than she already is." Doc rolled up by her side, a little defense in his voice. His crystal blue eyes were fierce, warning him to knock it off.

"It's ok Doc, I was just surprised that's all." He sighed, "I thought everyone watched the races…"

Sally leaned on lightning, "Don't worry, I watch them."

Lightning smiled at her comment, "that's good enough for me."

Sally chuckled, making Alice stir up something in her mind. * A 2 blue toned thunderbird chuckling at her, because she had been crying, afraid to show her the broken pieces of her glass figurine.*

"Alice?"

Alice blinked the picture out of her mind. "What?"

"Do you want to see the town?" Doc asked for the third time, " we won't go too far, but I figured since you're out here, might as well give you a taste of what you fell into."

A black and white mercury, obviously a police car, rolled along side Doc. "What do you think about a police escort?" His familiar voice asked, _'his voice was in the background when I first woke up.'_

"I don't mind at all… Sheriff" Alice smiled, knowing his name.

Sheriff blinked for a second, then his eye frame rose, "Someone already introduced me?"

Alice shook her head, "Nope, I remember you and Doc talking while I was still, 'asleep'."

Sheriff felt his gut tighten, _'what did she hear?'_ he wondered but quickly shook that thought out of his head; he didn't want to break his "formal police face". "Oh, all rightly then."

Doc changed the subject, "So, where do you want to go first?"

Alice looked over at Doc and smiled, "Doc, I don't know anything here. I wouldn't know where to start."

Sheriff chuckled, "You know, I have an idea on a place to start, that I think both of you will enjoy."

Both Doc and Alice looked at each other, than back a Sheriff, "Where?"

#~#~#~#~#~#~#~#~#~#

**I know this is a REALLY long chapter… 3,500 words but if I didn't have this chapter… nothing would flow right.**


	6. The crash of reality

**I Do NOT own anyone from **_**'cars'**_**, I own Alice and the other characters… You guys should know this by now.**

**As it comes to being an author, I'm so glad that I decided to start typing my story on fanfiction. LightningandDoc and Sally Jonson, You guys rock for reading every chapter, I can never thank you enough for that! THANKS!**

**Now on with the story…**

**Life rings:**

**Chapter 6: The Crash of Reality**

"Sheriff, I don't feel comfortable driving while my eyes are shut." She mumbled with her mouth full of rope. Alice slowly drove the non paved road, the stones lightly kicked up from under her tires as they tapped at her sides. If they stayed on the road, it would have been different; but right now, Sheriff could have been leading her to an edge of a cliff and she wouldn't have known. She didn't like this uneasy feeling, trusting her life on a rope that she held in her mouth, "I don't like this," she mumbled again, her lifeline blocking most of her speech.

Doc sighed; this whole 'driving blind' thing was rather frustrating. He understood Alice getting blindfolded, but him? He knew where everything is, he knew **what** everything is! Why was he forced to participate in this 'childish' game of sheriffs? He squinted one eye a crack, the ropes which they held in their mouths was being towed by Sheriff himself in the middle of the desert.

"Doc, what did I tell you about opening your eyes?" Sheriff questioned in a serious tone, making Doc quickly shutting his eye.

"I wasn't," Doc mumbled lowly with the rope in his mouth. He had forgotten that Sheriff wasn't that naïve; he's been on the field for years before he even came to town. He was known for his magnificent gut of his, or as they called it the police officers 6th sense. Sheriff must have had a feeling that Doc would question where they were going. Doc sighed in defeat; he didn't like the feeling as much as Alice did.

"Now, now you two, I can assure you that both of you will love it." Sheriff chuckled, "I can't believe you two are getting so worked up over this. I can cut the tension with a knife!"

"Sheriff, are we at least half way there?" Alice managed to choke out around the rope.

"Actually, we _are_ here." The tension on the rope subsided, Alice stopped, spitting the rope out of her mouth, leaving a fowl taste. Where the heck has that rope been?

Doc dropped the rope as well, "Can we open our eyes _now_?"

"By all means," Sheriff's voiced sounded almost excited

Alice opened her eyes to a beautiful desert, the ridges rising and falling, and the sculptures that seemed to be naturally carved into the rocks, and the… wear marks from tires going around the scenery? She rolled closer to the edge of the cliff, pulling away from Doc as she tried to get a closer look.

Doc eyes lit up, "You brought us to Willy's butte?" Doc called to Sheriff, who left his field of vision.

Alice raised a frame, "Willy's butte?"

"Yup, I figured you guys would like to run around a little bit, since both of you have been coupe up in the clinic for what seems like a week or two," Sheriff's called from below the little cliff, as he continued to drag something behind him.

Alice examined what Sheriff was towing, he was dragging two tires tied together behind him, the tires were tied with…an old rope. Alice's mouth felt dirty all of a sudden. Doc looked over at Alice's face, and then at Sheriff.

Doc eyes became wide, "Sheriff… where is our 'guide rope'?"

Sheriff stopped at a spot where the wear marks seem to be the darkest, untied himself from the rope, and moved a tire over on the other side. "Well, umm…" He rolled back to face the pair, motioning over at the rope that now made a clear line a crossed the worn marks. He smiled weakly, "I couldn't find any other rope, and I needed to bring the starting line out so I figured…"

Doc snapped his head up shock, his face disgusted. Alice was mortified, "That rope has been dragged, run over, through mud, dirt, and other things I don't want to know about for God knows how long! And we had THAT in our mouths?"

Doc wasn't much of a "germ-a-phobic", unless if it concerned his profession, but the thought of the rope, that's been here since he first came to the town… kind of made Doc shiver. He knew the possibilities were endless.

Sheriff shrugged, kind of embarrassed, "Well since you put it that way…"

Doc shook the thought out of his head as he rolled over to him, lowering his voice "What is your plan?"

Sheriff was glad to change the subject to something more, thought out. "Like I said before Doc, you guys need to stretch out your wheels, have fun, and enjoy yourselves."

Doc sat there staring at Sheriff, the police car's eyes flickered under pressure; Doc was no fool. "Yes, that sounds like a great plan." Doc said in an even voice as he turned to face Alice, who was still up on the cliff "Hey kiddo, why don't you take a look around Willy's butte while I give Sheriff here a stern talking too about _hygiene_."

"Sure!" Alice smiled and took off, leaving Doc and Sheriff to talk in private.

"Now you want to tell me the _real_ reason why you brought us here?"

Sheriff paused, "I told you, to let you guys drive around."

Doc was unfazed, "And I'm telling you, that you're hiding something…" Doc paused, looking at Sheriff's eyes, how they quickly darted once when he spoke. "This has to do with Alice."

Sheriff sighed, "Doc, at the scene where we found Alice, there were signs that there was a chase…"

Doc's eye frame raised just a hair, "and…?"

Sheriff broke his gaze with Doc, "Alice _might_ have run at high speeds in the condition that she was in for miles. Speeds that surpassed my own, maybe even yours, before whoever it was got to her."

Doc's eyes widened, her engine was a powerful one, but it could not have been that powerful? That couldn't be true, in the condition that she was in… impossible.

"Plus," Sheriff broke Doc's train of thought, "She must have some racing skills in her. There were faint, distinctive making on the desert floor, that leads me to suspect that she can maneuver herself quite well, on dirt."

Doc paused, _'Alice can race?'_ he blinked that thought out of his head. "You wanted to see how well she could perform on the track?"

Sheriff nodded slowly, "That's what I was hoping to find out… on top of the whole stretching out thing."

Doc narrowed his eyes, "Why didn't you tell me this before?"

"Sorry, I wanted to tell ya, but I felt that asking her questions wouldn't answer my own. It's easier to show, then to tell… hey it might trigger something from her past."

Doc understood what he meant, if she didn't know she was being tested, she might just react purely by instinct.

"I hope you're not too upset with me Doc, I just wanted to see if my theory was true."

Doc shook his head, "I'm not, I'm just unsure if she's up too it. She's a fast healer and all, but her body still needs time to rest. I don't want her to hurt herself."

Sheriff looked at him, "Doc, I'm no doctor, but just look at her." Sheriff faced Alice's direction, looking around; her new tires seem to itch to tear the ground apart. She was enjoying herself but something in her eyes seem to wish to just let herself go, feel the rush of wind graze at her frame, to feel free, to feel alive. Those feeling were too close to how Doc felt; he knew that feeling far too well. She caught his gaze as she looked over at him, a questioning look present on her features. "I know that look Doc. She wants to test herself, if you would just give her a chance. She'd really like that."

Doc knew he was going to hate himself, "Alright, just **one** run. That's it."

Sheriff smiled, "Hey Alice! You want to come here for a second?"

"Okay!" Alice called back, she seemed to almost race over to the two older cars, "What's up?"

Sheriff stuck his tire to the "track", "Would you like to try out it out?"

Alice face brightened for a split second, and then quickly fell. "But I just got out of the Clinic?"

Sheriff looked over at Doc, "Doc?"

This was his last chance to turn back, the opportunity was right there. Those marks that Sheriff was talking about could have been any one of the sadists that harmed Alice, if that was true, she would most likely hurt herself again if she missed that difficult turn. However, if she did know how to handle herself on dirt, she could make it out of that turn with ease… but if she took it too sharp for her body to handle in the state that she is in… it might cause internal problems … or worse.

Doc closed his eyes, "One lap, and do not push yourself too hard! Like you said, you just got out of the Clinic. Don't make it another week before you get to step outside again."

Alice eyes lit up in excitement, "Really? This is going to be great!"

She made her way to the start/finish line. "Again, take it easy Alice, I'm serious!" Doc repeated with a harsher serious tone, when Sheriff nudged him hard in the side, to move, "Geez Doc, since when did you decide to become a dad?"

Doc sighed, "When no one else did."

Sheriff and Doc made their way to the top of the cliff, so they could see everything… good or bad. Alice sat there, looking in the distance, focusing on what she was about to do. Then she looked up at her fellow "watchers", "When do I start?"

"Go when you're ready!"

"Any time you want!"

Alice nodded, and continued to look at the straight away. It was quiet for a while, the light breeze kicking up tumble weeds as they floated a crossed the home made track. Everything seemed at piece, until she cranked over her engine, the low throaty purr of a strong engine was faintly heard by her guardians. Sheriff seemed pleased, "Did you know about her past yet?"

Doc shrugged "bits and pieces, they stir up in the randomness of times. I think her mind is trying to protect its self from her past while she heals."

Sheriff raised a frame, "Was it really _that_ bad?"

Doc sighed, a heavy sigh, "you have no idea."

Then suddenly, she took off, a huge cloud of dust kicked up from where she once sat. Her patched up gray frame became a streak of a racing car, with no signs of slowing, Doc was biting his lower lip.

Sheriff was full of joy," look at her go! Boy, she can give Lightning a good run for his money."

Doc paid no attention to his naïve friend, he was too busy think about the supplies he might need when this run is through.

Sheriff looked over at Doc when he didn't respond, "Doc you need to learn to relax."

Doc glanced at his friend with serious eyes, "I would if she wasn't out there."

"You never say that to Lightning. No matter how bad of a wreak he was in, you still train him just as hard as you ever did once he was back on his wheels."

"This is different Sheriff."

Alice made her way up the raised turn with ease, her speed never slowing and her determination never weakened. Her Violet eyes wear vibrant, and her smile was crooked, she felt the rush through her systems as her engine kept pushing her through the end of the turn.

"What do you mean different? She's just like-"

"No, she's not. She's not build for this."

Doc watched more closely as she started going down the last straight away. "I hope she knows what she's doing."

Doc rolled to the very edge of the cliff, he was suddenly anxious, he knew what could happen… and Sheriff did too! Doc's eye frames smashed together in frustration, he trusted his friend and he knew the possibilities of some stranger racing, and he was completely calm about it… Doc focused back on the track, Alice was moving at speeds that lightning used for this track. Doc swallowed, Sheriff's gut was never wrong before…

Alice came to the turn, both Doc and Sheriff raised up on their shocks. She cut her wheels sharp to the left, Doc eyes widened as Sheriff stayed where he was. They watched Alice continued to turn left…

"Cut your wheels…" Doc said lowly to no one in particular. Alice didn't change her position as her back started swinging out.

"Cut your wheels." Doc said louder when Alice's back was twisting too far, fear coating his voice, his gut tightening on him. Sheriff took note on what was going on, but he still seemed unfazed.

"Cut Your Wheels!" Doc shouted, but it was pointless, due to the roar of Alice's engine, she couldn't hear him. "Alice! C-" He stopped when Sheriff tapped his side with his tire for him to stop. Doc looked over at Sheriff with wide eyes. "she'll be fine." Doc looked back at Alice, her back end still swinging out, then the unexpected…

Her tires changed underneath her, quickly cutting to the right. Power sliding with such power and speed, it was unbelievable. The only problem was that she need to learn how to time it, a second later she could have been sent flying. Doc froze, watching Alice complete her lap, Sheriff chuckled, "See, I told you she'll be fine." Doc took a breath, and realized he needed it more than he thought, did he stop breathing?

Sheriff looked down at Alice, "Nice job kid!" He chuckled as he looked over at Doc, as he realized Doc wasn't in his calm state. "Doc, you panicked?"

Doc relaxed himself, "No, I just got a little tense that's all."

Sheriff spoke in a serious tone, "you're pretty protective of her, aren't you?"

Doc looked over at him; his quivering eyes seemed purple in the setting sun, "maybe…"

Sheriff smiled, "Don't worry Doc, you're not the only one." He said sincerely as he seemed to drift off into a completely different direction.

"Doc?" a young voice called beside him. Doc turned around to see Alice, a much dirtier Alice, sitting there with a questioning look on her face. "How'd I do?"

Doc smiled warmly, "fine, you need work on timing but… fine."

Alice smiled warmly in return, "thanks Doc."

Sheriff snapped back to reality, "Hey where did you learn how to do that?"

Alice smiled widely, "I learned from watching my brother Zeb."

Doc and Sheriff looked at each other, and then back at her. "Zeb?"

Alice blinked, _* a picture of a male muscle, roadster custom, with red sides and black paint… smiling at her* _"My brother had the gift of speed." _*Zeb chuckled at her, rubbing her fender with his tire in a playful way. "Don't worry Al, it's hard at first but it's actually really easy if you try really hard." He pulled away from her to the home made track, "One you have it down, you'll be unstoppable." His warm eyes winked at her, as a sudden red ring appeared around his hazel eyes. And just like that he took off, so fast it was almost like he was never there in the first place. The only thing she saw was a blur of her brother zooming around the track… at the speed of light.* _

"He used to practice all the time on the track, behind our house." Alice shocked expression, " it was a log cabin in the middle of the woods. Me and Rachelle use to play all the time with…" _* A 2 blue toned thunderbird chuckling at her, because she had been crying, afraid to show her the broken pieces of her glass figurine. "Alice, don't worry I'm not mad at you." Her light green eyes were mother like, her deep blue ring stuck out from her natural eye color, "You shouldn't think like that, this glass things break all the time. I'm not going to-" she chuckled "you know Alice, for a little girl, you have a very active imagination, I would never throw you in a pit of fire dressed up like the devil." She smiled wider when she lean over onto Alice, in a hug like fashion. "You need calmer thoughts."*_

"We use to play with her glass figurines on the front porch. It was a way we got to talk without actually talking, except she liked to use her gift to talk to me half the time. That way our secrets were always secrets. That was her gift, she could read minds." Alice's eyes quivered back and forth. "Mom always knew we were close, and she loved it. She loved our family…"

"What was your mother's gift?" Doc's voice was very gentle, father like tone heavy in his voice.

Alice's jaw tightened, "My mother's gift was healing, anything that happened to us, she healed."

Sheriff eyes were kind, "Did your father have a gift?"

Alice paused,

_*"Zeb, what happened?!?" The mother screeched as she found her son lying on the ground, crippled, crunched, and bleed profusely. "Mom, I didn't see it coming I was racing around and I hit something. Mom I'm sorry, I'm so sorry…" he rasped as some oil oozed out of his mouth. "Zeb!" Jack called from behind his wife. "We've got to call the hospital!" Jack panicked as he raced around for a phone._

_Kendall shifted uncomfortably, she has never used her powers in front of anyone besides her kids, she knew Jack can be a little over dramatic when something isn't right… she knew to hide herself… but her child was dying in front of her…._

_Her midnight blue eyes had welcomed a white ring; she didn't care what happened to her after her secret is revealed. "mom, I thought you told us that…" She hushed him, "this is more important, than hiding our gifts." She rapped herself around her son, "this may hurt a little."_

_Kendall focused all of her energy on her son, stop the bleeding, mend the broken parts, and fixing the things that could of led to him being crippled for the rest of his life, the miracle at worker._

"_What are you doing?" jack called to his wife. Then his expression was shocked when he looked at his wife's eyes, his child completely healed, and the oil mess that laid underneath him, the only evidence that something every happened._

"_Jack, let me explain…"_

"_You- Mutant-Whore!" Jack snarled for the first time at his wife, his dark green eyes full of insanity and hatred.* _

Alice's eyes watered, "He doesn't have a gift… he hated us because of it." A single tear ran down her hood, but her voice was still even. "He killed my mother…my brother…my sister. Their all dead…"

Doc rolled over to her side, "it's okay Alice, you don't have to continue…"

Sheriff blinked, _'Doc sure wasn't kidding about her past'_

"It's important; my father went after me because he saw my ring for the first time… always afraid of my gift. So he sent me out all the time on missions that his gang went on, and every time I can home, it was always a harsh betting." She swallowed, "I never do what he tells me to do. He just harms everyone! And I'm not like that!"

She was on the verge of sobbing, Doc nudged her side comfortingly. "Then on that night…" she continued, "he was just sick and tired of me… and he wanted… to kill me too!" She couldn't hold her feelings back anymore; she leaned on Doc and cried her heart out. Sobbing till it hurt to sob, so many years crashed into reality. "he-will-do-whatever-it-takes-to-get-rid-of-me." She said in between her painful sobs. Doc pulled her in closer, trying to protect her from reality. He look up from her to look at Sheriff, Doc's eyes spoke for him,_ 'do you see why I act the way I do around her?'._

Sheriff nodded, understanding their own language, _'she needs it.'_

Alice calmed rather quickly, she stopped sobbing, her breaths still came ragged. "I'm sorry…" She said as she tried drying herself, shaking off the tears.

Doc shook his head, "no no, it's alright."

Sheriff smiled encouragingly "it's alright to cry sometimes…"

Alice sniffled, "I know, I just don't like to cry in front of people."

Doc embraced her, "again it's alright, I can guarantee you that you are safe here. You father will never hurt you ever again."

Alice looked up, her eyes were a little red, "Really?"

Doc smiled, "I swear on my life."

**Another long chapter but, it was needed. If you can picture the cars "inbracing" great! That's going to be a little hard to illustrate. Lol thank you for reading! **


	7. This is a joke right? This can't be real

**Again, I don't own anyone from **_**'cars' **_**there Pixar's… you guys should know that by now.**

**Thanks again LightningandDoc and Sally Jonson for being amazing authors and reviewers!**

**And now… on with the story! FYI if you haven't read the last chapter you will get confused!**

**Life Rings**

**Chapter 7: This is a joke right? this can't be real!**

Sheriff smiled encouragingly "it's alright to cry sometimes…"

Alice sniffled, "I know, I just don't like to cry in front of people."

Doc embraced her, "again it's alright, I can guarantee you that you are safe here. You father will never hurt you ever again."

Alice looked up, her eyes were a little red, "Really?"

Doc smiled, "I swear on my life."

Alice smiled weakly, her red eyes from crying fell to the desert ground. "You don't have to do that Doc."

Doc nudged her side comfortingly, "I want to."

Sheriff came around Alice on her other side, "We do, and I'm sure the town does too."

Alice smile grew a little stronger, still kind of embarrassed from her crying spell. It's just that those memories, they almost hurt to remember them… she was just bombarded with emotions and feelings that were too complex to handle on her own…

"So does this mean that you have your full memory now?" Sheriff asked lightly, watching his questions carefully.

Alice nodded, "yeah, I think so."

Doc looked over at Sheriff, knowing far too well what he's up too.

"When you 'vented', you've said a couple of things that I found interesting..." Sheriff began; still being very careful with his words, the mind is a sensitive thing… one wrong word could set someone off, sometimes just another crying session, and other times even depression."…and there are a couple of questions that I'd like to ask."

Doc thought the same as Sheriff, there were a couple of things that he didn't understand, questions that seem to burn in his mind for answers,_ "what caused your father to go nuts? What do you mean by gifts? What do you mean ring? What is a ring?..." _

However, Doc was smart enough to hold his tongue. That's the difference between a Doctor and a Police officer; Doctor's seem to let their own questions go unsolved, unless needed. The way their minds are set up is in a protective way, to try not to cause too much stress. As with police officers will ask any question that they could think of, wanting to get the information as quickly and as affiant as possible. That's what they were trained to do, find information so that everything makes sense. But Sheriff was a bit different than most officers; he would take his time, if he felt the question was too sensitive, he would stop. Right now, nothing made sense, and his officer side was restless… he couldn't help it.

Alice rose a little on her tires, becoming a little stronger yet. "Sure, you can ask me anything."

Doc raised a frame a little, surprised, _'she doesn't seem too bothered by this'. _Surely this topic was still sore… right?

Sheriff blinked at her response, surprised as well, "You mentioned a 'Ring' a lot when you were talking about your family."

Alice nodded, her eye's dropping, "I had a feeling someone would ask, but some cars won't be able to understand it… understand us."

Doc pulled in front of Alice, "Alice what did I tell you?" he said in a sincere voice, bring a crooked smile on her face.

"That I'll be safe here." She said simply.

Doc smiled encouragingly, "then you have nothing to worry about."

Alice's violet eyes shimmered, those words meant more than anything in the world. "I know, but it's such a complicated topic, some people can't handle it well."

Sheriff drove in front of her, locking eyes with her "don't worry Alice; we'll be able to handle it."

Alice sighed, "well if you say so…"

She took a breath to study herself, retaining the new information they just hit her just, then informing it into a sentence. "It's a little hard to explain, but I'll try my best. When someone had a gift, their energy will be shown as a 'ring' in their eyes. We call it a ring because it's a _ring_ that frames around the natural eye color of the individual."

Doc nodded, "So rings are only seem on people with a gifts?"

Alice shook her head "Actually, that's not technically true. Everyone has a ring; the only difference is that, your ring would be weaker than someone with a gift. So instead of standing out like ours does, your ring will actually blend with your natural eye color." Alice looked over at Doc, "Everyone has unexplainable energy which would cause "miracles", or unexplainable survivals. Some people would call it the "drive that keeps us going". You should already have an idea of this Doc."

Doc nodded, "Yes, I have a fair idea of that."

Sheriff looked at her, "Wait, everyone has rings?"

Alice nodded, "Yes, it's just yours isn't as strong as ours. The only way to see your ring, is to have the sun light reflect in your eyes." Alice looked around for the setting sun; the red ball seemed to float just over Cadillac range, painting the sky with reds and purples, the day was almost over with, "Sunsets are perfect to find rings."

Doc found this little fact interesting "Why sunsets?"

Alice shrugged "I honestly don't know. I want to say it's because it has to do with the angle of light, but I'm not exactly sure."

Doc smiled his eyes twinkled in the sun light.

Sheriff raised a frame "So could you tell me what my ring is?"

Alice rolled closer to Sheriff; her eyes seem to go back and forth, searching through his eyes for the smallest of details. Her eyes seem to flicker in the sunlight, and then she smiled. "Your ring is yellow Sheriff."

Sheriff sat in deep thought for a second, using his cop brain to put everything that he just heard to work. "So, let's see if I get this right. My eyes are blue, and I do not have a gift… which means that my ring would blend in with my blue eyes… so my ring looks green?"

Alice smiled approvingly "Yes!"

Doc smiled, it was actually simpler that was he thought it was. "What about mine?"

Alice turned to face Doc, examining his eyes was always interesting to her; his eyes were like the gate way to his emotions, unlike sheriff's steady eyes. However she's wasn't looking for emotions right now, she was looking for his ring, his energy, his life. But all she found was his crystal blue eyes, staring back at her, his one eye framed rose when it was taking too long.

"It's. Not. There." Alice broke up her sentence, as she looked harder. _'I know I've seen it before, where the heck is it?'_

"It's not there?" Doc chuckled, "well that's interesting."

He's eyes were a light blue, full of joy, but was still missing his ring.

Alice looked confused, "I don't understand… my mom said that you'll be able to see weak rings in the sun light. Why can't I find yours?"

Doc chuckled, "Don't worry kiddo, I don't need a ring."

Sheriff's shrugged, "Well, what can cause it not to show?"

Alice thought for a second, "Well, a lot of things I guess. Stress, sickness, weakness, frustration, blocked memories, or even emotion." _'Or maybe control… if it's a full ring.'_

Doc shrugged, "don't worry about it, it's nothing important."

Alice zoned out on Doc's crystal eyes, _'I swear they were purple before… but if I look now,' _see squinted her eyes to examine his eyes more closely, All she saw was different shades of blue mingled together in perfect harmony, nothing that had any purple in them.

Then the eyes blinked, as his normally relaxed eyes, seemed to question her, "If you can't find it you can't find it. Don't worry about it." The owner of the eyes spoke.

Alice looked back over at Sheriff's soft blue eyes again, the blue was relaxed as a perfectly cut line through the middle of his natural color that separated his blue from the other section that hinted green. _'His ring is there…what-'_

Sheriff's eyes blinked, "little lady, finding rings aren't that important right now. There're still a couple things that need to be addressed."

Alice rolled back with her unanswered question, "Okay."

Sheriff cleared his throat, "Now with this 'ring' thing, you were mentioning about how your family has 'gifts'? What do you mean by that, like their talent or-"

Alice shook her head, "No Sheriff, it's not talent at all. It's something more… supernatural."

Both Doc and Sheriff raised a frame.

"Our gifts give us power that normal cars can never compete with. It would be a mistake. My brother Zeb had the gift of speed. I don't mean like a racecar going 300 miles per hour, no 300 would look like just a casual stroll compared to what my brother can do."

Doc leaned in a little more, "How fast is fast?"

Alice smirked, "You won't be able to follow him with your own eyes. He moves so fast, he is only a faint blur if you're looking for him."

Sheriff snapped his head back, "What?!?"

Alice glanced over at Sheriff, "Exactly."

Doc eyes were wider than normal, "Have you ever clocked him?"

Alice nodded, "plenty of times, on his worst runs he was hitting around mock 7 or so."

"Mock 7?" Sheriff said with shock in his voice.

Doc swallowed "and that was his worst runs."

Alice laughed, "You see! I told you that you guys couldn't handle it well! Just look at your faces!"

Doc shook the expression out of his face, but his eyes were still a little wider than normal. Sheriff didn't attempt to change.

"Your sister, Rachelle, could…?"

"Read minds, she could also put thoughts into your head, and sometimes control your emotions." Alice nodded at her state of fact.

Doc noticed that this seems like an everyday thing to her. She has no idea how much of an impact that can have on any stranger that just glimpsed at their unnatural abilities. _'maybe…' _Doc thought, _' maybe the father was a father once… and the mother kept her abilities secret from him. And maybe because of this, it was a greater shock to the father when he did find out. That could explain a lot of it…'_

Sheriff 'shocked expression quickly changed to an intrigued pupil. "Fascinating, and your mother can heal any wound, right?"

Alice nodded "Yeah, anything mental or physical, but sadly anything emotional she can't heal with her gift."

Doc raised a frame again, "In medicine, mental and emotional are the same field."

"On the contrary, there're not the same, they maybe on the same field but two different things. I use to think that way too, my mother likes to compare it to siblings, they have the same mom and dad, but there still two different people."

Doc thought about that, it made since to him, but his books weren't right. He had to rethink everything that he has learned. Doc looked over at Sheriff's loss for words; it looks like he wasn't the only one.

Alice looked at the two's puzzled faces, and sighed. This was going to take awhile for them to get use to it. Just wait until she gets her own gift, how would they react then?

Doc shivered to the cooling air, the night was coming quicker than he hoped. "It's getting late, why don't we head back to Flo's and we can continue this tour tomorrow."

Alice looked over at the sun; the red orb barley peeked over the horizon as the colors were getting darker in the sky. "Yeah I guess we can do that."

* * *

Doc and Sheriff had their head lights on when they pulled into Flo's café as Alice was left in the dark. Alice's headlights, didn't work yet on the account that Doc needed to gets new bulbs for them.

The sky was dark now, the painted colors drifted to a dark navy blue as the stars started poking out from the dark sky. The maps that they show, the stories that they told, the things that they have seen, Alice wondered as she looked at the stars for the first time in a long time.

Doc pulled up in the stall next to Sheriff as they both sat there watching Alice. "You know she has a lot of potential here." Sheriff said quietly to Doc.

"I know. She's got a lot of stuff to share to this town. The things to learn, a different way to look at life, I think she could change a lot of lives here." Doc replied, matching his volume.

there was just enough of a break in their conversation to give Sheriff a breath, "She has."

Doc looked over at him, a slight questioning look on his face, "how so?"

Sheriff smiled, "You Doc, she's changed you."

Doc blinked, he's changed? "I have?"

Sheriff nodded, "Yeah, ever since she woke up, you've been smiling a lot more than you ever did in a year. She's made you enjoy the simple things, instead of just noticing them."

Doc thought about that for a second. He did smile more, he knew, he felt it. But there was just something about her that seemed to fill a crack in his heart, the crack that made him bitter when Lightning first showed up. He didn't seem to worry about the weather anymore; if it rained he'd dance in it. Geez, he hasn't felt this good since…

Doc's face lost all emotion as his face became a stone. Why did he just bring _her_ up? After all of these years of forgetting that day, forgetting her, forgetting his pain… what caused _her_ memory to stir up in his mind?

Alice's eyes dropped down to Doc's, her smile wide, her eyes alive and full of wonder, the energy that poured from her frame was contagious. A smile of his own tugged at his grill, and that's when it hit him, why did he remember _her_? Doc smiled, because it reminded him of a time he was happy, just like her. And the last time he felt truly happy, he was with _her_.

Then out of nowhere Lightning was spotted from the corner of his eye, come up to him fast, _too_ fast for comfort.

"Doc, have you seen Mater? I've looked all over town for him and his nowhere to be found." Lightning quickly panted to his crew chief. He was cover in mud and panic filled his eyes… That's not like him.

Sheriff sighed "Boy did you check the field? He want tractor tipping today, remember? He's probably out there honking his broken horn of his and causing mischief."

Lightning shook his head, "No I've looked, he's not there! I've looked at his place, the field, wheel well, everywhere."

Doc features were serious, "Are you sure you've looked everywhere?"

Lightning nodded vigorously, "Yes everywhere that I can think of."

Doc looked over at Sheriff, his eyes were fierce "we need a search party, Lightning you grab sally and head out towards the fields, Sheriff you go get Sarge and Fillmore and check the field over again, Alice!" Alice jumped when she heard her name, "your coming with me, we'll look back the way we've came towards Willy's butte. And Ramone and Flo can look around her with the rest of the folk." Doc left his post, clicking his head lights back on and cruised down the road, Alice following near him. "What can happen to him here?" Alice asked her voice soft and unsure.

Doc didn't respond. His grave expression was bold enough for her.

Alice looked into the darkness, trying to find some sort of life that looked like a rusty tow truck. But all she saw was rocks that where in jagged shapes and cacti that played with her imagination. The little limbs they had caused movement when the wind caught them just right. It was hard to look for someone in the dark. "Mater!" She shouted, hoping to get a response back, but the only thing that replied was her echo, and the chant of the other's calling his name, hoping for the same answer.

Nothing…

"Mater!" she yelled again, but all she saw was a quick movement. Alice stopped suddenly and quickly looked over, hope flooding her emotions. A tree branch waved in her direction as the wind was toying with her spirits. She sighed, this was hopeless.

"Don't give up hope, he may not be very educated, but he has common sense. He'll turn up before you know it." Doc's voice was calm, but serious in a professional way. Almost like he's use to being under stress.

Alice nodded, Doc was right; she couldn't lose hope on him just yet. " Mater?" She chanted with everyone else answerless calls. Alice's clenched her teeth together, she needed to be louder.

"Mater! " her call answered back to a noise. She stopped, something called back. A quick movement caught her attention again, she sighed _'if that's another branch I swear…'_

But it wasn't, it was a shadow that seemed to be moving, a low grumbling sound came from the figure running engine. "Mater?" She asked the shadow that still came in her general direction. No response.

The rumbling noise became louder as the ground beneath her started shaking… the figure, was joined by more figurines as the noise increased even more than before. Alice back up a bit, fearing that her memories were coming back to haunt her, this wasn't Mater this was…

Then the leading figure quick rolled into the street light, the patchy brown colored tractor moo'd loudly in her face, the others quickly followed there pack leader and moo'd at her too… that wasn't Mater, it was a STAMPEDE!

**Lol, what a great cliff hanger to lead into the next chapter.**


	8. Fight or flight?

**I don't own **_**'cars'**_** their Pixar's! Duh!**

**Wow I can't believe I'm on the 8****th**** chapter! This is Amazing! This chapter felt a little hollow so… sorry about that….**

**Life Rings**

**Chapter 8: Fight or flight?**

Alice rolled back from the never slowing stampede, the tractors charged in her direction, their eyes insane, full of fear. _'Something scared them to death.'_

The tractors floored it at top speed, letting their adrenalin take over their senses. They didn't comprehend anything around them, they lost their sanity. They didn't care what was in front of them at this point; they would plow right through it… even if it's another living thing.

Alice swallowed, she had to leave, she had to get out of the way! Her eyes went wide; her engine running richly, adrenalin flowed through her frame, making her heart race. She stared at the oncoming stampede coming closer. She had to move now!

Her tires wouldn't budge, her fame wouldn't move, her eyes were glued to the stampede closing in on her, she was under a trance. She felt like screaming, shouting for help, trying to save herself, but all she can do is zone off… at her ending life. She quickly shut her eyes, hoping it would be quick. _'Please God, make it quick…'_

It seemed rather quick, the pain wasn't really as bad as what she thought either… but what was odd about this pain was that it came from a whole different area… her back bumper.

Her eyes shot open, the tractors were now a spitting distance from where she was, their heat hitting her face. She blinked, if they didn't come yet what… Suddenly she was whisked away before she could even think, the vision blurred, streaking all the light that was around her. Her eyes slammed shut again, not sure how any of this was happening, fearing what could happen, and hoping that whatever was happening would stop!

She landed roughly on the ground, her shaking tires giving out on her as her fame crashed on the floor. The pain in her bumper quickly released as low chuckling was heard.

Alice opened her eyes, a rusty tow truck's goofy grin sparked realization in Alice's mind.

"Sho-ot! I thought you were just gunna let them there tractors come and eat cha!" Mater chuckled at her.

"Mater? Where on earth have you been?" Alice rasped out, her voice still trembled from the stampede.

"Don't yer remember? I said I wus going tractor tippin'! But I couldn't on the fact that there was no tractors for me to tip! So I wus wondering around lookin' for them and-"

"Wait? You didn't scare them?" Alice intruded Mater's riveting story.

"Nah, I don't scare them. I tip them!"

Alice blinked 'o-k?', "Was there anything that could of scared them _this_ badly?"

Mater shrugged, unfazed by the situation, "I don't know."

Alice sighed, asking Mater anything important was kind of pointless. She needed to find… the tractors!?! Alice adrenalin shot through her fame again. The Tractors were out of control! They can destroy the town… or worse. Harm the town folk.

"Mater, how do you stop a stampede?"

Mater waved his tire like it was nothing, "Dag gum, that's easy! You honk the horn!"

Alice raised a frame, "that works?"

"Yeah! It scares them, which makes them tip over. Shoot every car knows that!"

Alice blinked strangely at him, his intelligence was rather annoying when something serious is happening, "Mater…They ARE scared!"

Mater eyes went wide, then he shrugged again, "I don't know, that usually does the trick."

Alice rolled her eyes, _'this is pointless!'_

"Alice! What happened back there?" a panicked voice was beside her, their head lights blinding her.

The head lights quickly clinked off, revealing Hudson with his paint that blended with the darkness. His crystal blue eyes reflected the light from the street light, making his eyes almost glow.

"I don't know Doc, I just froze I guess…" Alice couldn't look at his eyes, she felt ashamed. She knew she should of tried harder.

A hefty sigh came from Doc, "Well, I can't get upset about the past. What's happened has happened. At least you're alright, thanks to Mater."

Mater face was a little embarrassed, "Aww shucks, and your gunna make me blush. I was just doin' what I'm good at doin'."

Doc face didn't change, his seriousness was still strong in his features, " we need to get into town." He said lowly, driving off before them.

Alice looked over at Mater who, unsurprisingly, just shrugged and followed Doc like a normal car would. Alice felt a little uncomfortable; she has never heard Doc speak so… coldly before. She swallowed, should she apologies?

########

Doc drove at a fast pace into the small town, which as he suspected, is covered with tractors and angry town folk. The tractors normally just wonder around like the aimless creatures they are, but this was completely the opposite… They were charging at everything and anything!

Doc took in a shaky breath to calm himself, he had to remain focused and in control. '_alright, towns full of tractors, run away tractors. Normally harmless…'_

Doc looked just in time to watch a tractor cut in front of Red and trampled over his beloved flowers. Red gasped at the sight that he just seen, his beloved flowers crushed to death. Tears welled in his eyes as he scooped a single flower up with a tire, the petals falling with every movement. Red started crying, wailing as loud as he could, and rushed into the courthouse.

Doc tightened his jaw,_ 'Normally, but this is different. They usually tend to stay away from cars. What caused them to go on a rampage?'_

Tractors littered the town, smashing things down, and…

The crowd of tractors went passed Luigi's "casa de la tires", knocking down the leaning tower of tires which they worked so hard to build. "my tires!" Luigi cried, as he fell to the ground in defeat. Guido went to rush over to his sobbing friends side, when a tractor started coming his way, clipping him, knocking him completely over. Doc rose on his tires, Luigi rolled over to Guido's side helping him up. Guido was fine, just shaken up a bit.

Doc anger boiled, _'this __**must**__ be stopped!'_

"Doc, these things are out of control!" Sheriff pulled up by his side, "I don't know what's going on but if this keeps up, someone's going to get hurt!"

Doc nodded, "I know, there has to be a way to get everything under control."

Sheriff nodded, "Have you tried beeping yet?"

Doc shrugged, "no, not yet."

Sheriff chuckled, "Maybe we should try it. I mean it usually stops them, why would they change now?"

Doc serious face didn't change, "Well, I guess we'll see about that." He pulled away from Sheriff, as he took off towards the stampede. Sheriff watched his suddenly daring friend go after the situation head on, "What is he-"

Then out of now where, Sheriff's gut twisted underneath him, making him grunt under the discomfort. He took a couple of breaths trying to relax a bit. That normally helps, but his gut tightened even more, twisting at fate. His teeth were bared, his police senses was kicking in. His mighty gut twisted only when something bad was about to happen, that's what makes him a good cop, he always knew, and his gut never failed him once… he looked around for the problem, the source of this bad vibe that sent his gut in a knot. It wasn't too far away, like a couple of feet… The cobalt blue hide drifted further into the darkness of his clinic, as the tractors headed in his direction.

Sheriff grinded his teeth together when the pain spiked with-in him. "No…. not Doc."

########

Doc sat in front of his clinic, waiting for the stampede to come close enough to sound the horn. He wasn't thinking at all he just wanted to get this over with so that he could continue remembering…

Doc sighed, "Christine, I wonder what life has done with you."

His heart twisted as he said _her_ name, Christine, the lover that he lost deep in his memories from a long time ago. Normally he wouldn't bring up anything from his time of fame, especially hers. However lately, something stirred up his memories and now, that's all he could think about! Being alone, being hurt, and being isolated from the world. He hated it! Remembering his past! That pissed him off, remembering her beautiful smile, the flawless fins, and her amber eyes piercing through his soul that beat for her. The feeling of love…

Oh how naïve young Doc was, letting his emotions toy with his mind, seeing the life in rose colored glasses. He could of saved himself from the humiliation, the horrible drive that changed his life… the thoughts that went through his mind disturbed him the most about the memory.

Losing his job, losing his love, losing himself… almost losing his life.

Doc shivered at that thought. How low he got back then, over… nothing. How childish of him to choose flight than fight when the time came.

The tractors stampede down the great road of route 66, the rumbling of the tractors caused Doc to think snap his attention to reality. This was something he couldn't run away from; he had to do it for everyone here that helped him. He sighed, he wasn't really the hero type, he'd rather be the guy behind the hero that helped him through everything. There was just something in him that, pushed him to stand before the stampede.

Doc stood his ground, as he took a breath in and… ~BEEP!~

The tractors hesitated at the sound, causing them to slow down just for a second. Their eyes went even wider, the fear doubling inside them; The tractors lurched forward, faster than before, leaving not enough space for Doc to make a speedy exit, they were too close. Doc threw himself in reverse, too hard for his shocked system to take, causing him to slip his gears and stall.

Doc's eyes widened, his heart stopped for a second, "oh no…" he watch the tractors coming after him closing in the feet that separated them both.

"Don't worry, Doc."

Doc looked over at Alice, who was embracing him at his side, how did she…?" Alice?"

Alice's violet eyes were vibrant; her eyes glowed, slowly letting something seep out from the violet eyes in an unnatural way. A light Jade green shade faded in with the violet in a brilliant ring, the energy rippling in the ring like water. She blinked, the green stood out strongly as she looked at the stampede that was only feet away from them. Doc shielded Alice and shut his eyes, hoping he would get most of the impacted, and he embraced for the impact… but surprisingly, it never came.

Doc opened his eyes, realizing he'd shut them, and looked for a reason why it took so long…

The tractors stood in mid pace inches from his frame, immobilized, almost like there were frozen. Doc looked around him; Luigi and Guido were staring at each other, not moving but seemed to be in the middle of a conversation. Sheriff was staring at him, but not staring at him at the same time. He seemed zoned out or… frozen. Everything was frozen… it was like time stopped in its place.

Doc looked over at Alice, her Jade green ring continued to ripple like a green ocean, she smiled.

Doc eyes were wide… "You just-"

Alice's smiled brightened, her eyes vibrant and focused.

Then she froze, her face twisted in pain, clutching at herself, Her eyes rippled less and less… "Doc… something doesn't feel right…" She said almost hoarsely as she groaned. Everything started slowly moving, making Doc push Alice out of the way. Time seemed to catch up with itself, as everything started moving at normal pace again, the tractors speeded off down the road.

Doc looked down at Alice, her eyes now a study Violet, "Doc…" She said weakly before she started coughing, oil spotted the ground as a drop hung on her bottom lip. Her weak violet eyes slowly rolled to the back of her head. Her body trembled before it crashed down on to Doc's frame with all of her weight. Doc eyes quivered back and forth, his heart twisted at the sight of her pain,"Alice, Alice!"


	9. Friction from within

**Cars=Pixar common sense!**

**Chapter 9 is here! You guys are probably wondering about Alice? I can only type so fast!**

**Life rings**

**Chapter 9: Friction from within**

The morning light burned in Doc's sleepless eyes as he finally left the clinic for the first time in the last 10 hours. Alice was struggling to stay stable, let alone conscious ever since her ring kicked in last night. He was able to stop the bleeding in her engine but, so far he hasn't found a reason what would cause the bleeding. He had to clear out her airways from any oil that might of oozed in, and prevent any type of infection that might come around.

Doc yawned widely, he was exhausted, he was too afraid to fall asleep last night… it was that serious.

Sheriff rolled over to Doc, his face just as down as his. "How is she?" he said lowly to his sleep deprived friend.

Doc looked over at Sheriff, his eyes slightly red, "she's stable."

Sheriff felt his gut twist again, ever since that night his gut has been this never ending knot, spiking when he least expected it. Plus, he had the same problem as Doc, lack of sleep. Sheriff grunted in discomfort , "Do you know what caused the bleeding?"

Doc shook his head, "I haven't really looked, I was afraid of aggravating something." He left his answer simple. He was too tired to get into detail.

They slowly made their way to Flo's café, as they took their time finding their normal spots and quietly sat down. Flo quickly rolled over to the two with a normal smile on his face, which quickly fell when the dark vibe from the pair hit her frame. "Normally I would ask for your order, but it seems to me that the best question would be, what's that matter will ya'll? Is everyone feeling alright? It looks like you two have been up all night."

Sheriff nodded, "we were Flo."

Flo's smile found her face again, "I'm sure Alice is alright. She's a strong girl, and I know them when I see them. Do you guys want something to eat?"

Doc nodded, "yeah, I need something to wake me up."

Sheriff shook his head, "none for me Flo. Thanks."

Flo nodded, "alright, I'll bring you out something Doc, are you sure you don't want anything Sheriff? You haven't eaten at all today."

Sheriff shook his head again, "not right now, maybe later."

Flo nodded slowly as she took off, fetching the order for Doc. Doc nudged Sheriff, "feeling sick?"

"No," sheriff commented, "my stomach a little off, that's all."

Doc raised a frame at his statement, grabbing a breath to speak, but held his tongue. Sheriff is stubborn old mercury; he wouldn't come to him for help unless he was dying. Doc cracked a smile,_ 'and even then I have to drag him out of his death bed to get him anywhere near my clinic.'_

"Well, alright Sheriff, if it gets worse, you know where to find me." Doc yawned at the tail end of his sentence. "Sorry, it's been a long night."

Sheriff nodded, "I know."

"You too I take it."

He nodded again, "yup, I was looking all over the place last night for the tractors. Found them around there normal pen. But apparently, the tractors were so terrified they didn't even want to set a tire inside the fence."

Doc gave a thoughtful 'huh', "I wonder what scared them so badly."

Sheriff shrugged, "they were terrified of the sight of me, which I thought was kind of strange. Usually their just lazy son of a guns, they don't even budge unless you 'beep' your horn. But I'm telling you Doc, something tells me that someone was out there last night."

Doc shifted when the sight of Flo came back into view, "Thanks Flo."

Flo smiled as she set the oil can on the ground in front of her. "No problem Doc," she looked over at Sheriff, "Are you alright?"

Sheriff nodded, "Don't worry Flo, it's nothing I can't handle."

Flo nodded and left the two be, knowing far too well that they were waiting for her.

"Someone, you mean Mater?" Doc started the conversation again.

Sheriff shifted his weight; this conversation was actually starting to wake him up a bit. "Not just him Doc, I know his mismatched tires anywhere. There was wide tread, with thick tread…. A group of them I think."

Doc nodded, "If you could, I suggest we keep an eye on the town tonight. Maybe Mater might know a thing or two about our "new comers" but it could be anything Sheriff. It could have been your own set of tires-"

Sheriff voice was a little defensive, "I know what I saw Doc. I'm the Sheriff for God sake!"

Doc back off a little bit, trying to insure sheriff he meant nothing by it, "I don't mean to be offensive Sheriff, but you're deprived of sleep, you could have been seeing things," He gridded his teeth, trying to keep himself from yawning again, "I need to get back to Alice, I've been out here long enough."

Sheriff rose on his tires, a light grudge laid on his features, "I need to rest up since I'm going to be out all night tonight. I don't want to miss anything…" sarcasm laced his words of departure, making Doc's lip curl.

"Sheriff…" Doc spoke roughly, making Sheriff glare back. "Like I said before we're both tired, we're both edgy, I didn't mean anything before, I was just being logical."

Sheriff jaw tightened, "Yes, logical. Maybe you need to re-think your 'logic'," Doc's eyes widened as he snapped his head back a bit, "'cause ya know, we are tired and all, maybe you're not thinking straight today Doc."

Doc eyes narrowed in on him,_**if looks can kill**__…_"I'm not thinking straight?"

Sheriff shrugged, rolling overdramatically slow by him, "Well, I'm no Doctor; I'm just a 'tired' old Sheriff. I don't know what I'm seeing here, but I think it might have to do with the way you've been treating me lately."

Doc turned to face him, "Treating you? What about the way you're treating me now?"

Sheriff bared his teeth, "Now it's about you? Since when did you start to become self-centered?"

Doc felt his anger boil, he had to try with all of his might to fight it back, he knew both of them were edgy. He took a breath to steady himself, trying to keep his voice even, "Sheriff, I'm not self centered, if I was I wouldn't have become a Doctor." There was no need to fight; he needed Sheriff more than he will ever know.

Sheriff paused, trying to think of something to say, "I-"but couldn't.

Doc sighed, letting his mind relax and his oil pressure drop. "Sheriff, if I didn't care, I would never be a Doctor, let alone a judge too."

Sheriff let out a breath, calming himself down as well. "Then, why don't you believe me?"

Doc looked up at his friend, a bit of defeat in his eyes. Sheriff continued, "well, lately you've been judging every observation that I've made, and I feel like you're losing faith in me."

Doc read his eyes, the light blue eyes were sincere and meaning full… and that's when it hit Doc, his words meant a lot to Sheriff. Anything he said actually hit home with his friend…

"I never did…" Doc spoke slowly, "it just, part of me doesn't want it to be true."

Doc nodded in a goodbye fashioned and left towards the clinic, leaving the deep statement to be left unanswered. Sheriff sighed in defeat, as his gut aggravated him again… usually it would of went away by now… the accident already happened…

#########

Doc quietly rolled into the clinic to his sleeping patient who lied peacefully on the lift, and a slight snore was heard in-between her deep breaths. Doc chuckled lightly to himself at the heart warming sight.

The steady beeping in the background was comforting to hear, the graphs that printed from some of the monitors were also comforting to Doc as well. _'It's hard to believe that you had another near death experience' _he thought to himself. Everything appeared normal, but even Doc knew, appearance can be demeaning.

There was something wrong here, he knew something hid behind the good news that he got from every monitor around him. Nothing made since as to why something like this could happen, to cause her to just random bleed internally… and externally.

Doc was puzzled, in the cases that he's seen that would cause such a… wound, would be to have something strike you, or cut in the place most tender. That would cause bleeding both internal and external… but she didn't _appear_ to run anything over, or complained of something….

Doc rethought what he had just gone over, _'appearance can be demeaning…'_ there was just one problem with that.

Alice took in a deep sigh in her sleep, making her body relax even more on the lift. She was asleep, how was he supposed to examine her when she was asleep.

Doc looked over her sleeping frame, he couldn't disturb her, she needed her sleep.

Doc was about to roll away when something tugged at his side, the working mirror that he had used before to let Alice see herself, was misplaced from its original spot. Doc paused as he looked over at Alice, the lift was just high enough to put the mirror to work… normally he would let it slide for another day… but this mystery was bothering him.

Doc rolled the mirror under Alice, careful not to disturb her, and tilted slightly so that he could see the underside of her engine. Most of her engine was patched from last night; it was the only way he could get it to stop leaking oil all over the place. Her transmission fell neatly in place with the core of her engine block, the oil pan perfectly in place under the engine, the tubing was rapped correctly and neatly as it should be avoiding the fan belt and other wiring. Everything was perfectly in place, _'huh, everything is in order, but what would of caused-'_ he spoke too soon.

Just as he was about to move the mirror away from underneath Alice, he just barely caught a glimpse of it from the corner of his eye. A black object shined in his direction, a tooth like object to be exact, kind of like the ones that you see on saw blades was imbedded in her engine block… Actually it wasn't just a saw blade tooth; it was exactly described as a saw blade. A black saw blade… that was surgically embedded within her engine block…

Doc felt his body die, _'Please don't let it be true…'_

He pushed the mirror closer towards the saw blade and tipped it just enough to spot the other object; a black box, connected to the blade like thing, was embedded as well to her oil pump… her heart. Doc swallowed… his fear came true. He needed to get-

The doors opened behind him, knocking the thought out of his mind. The old mercury rolled cautiously to his friend in a rather defeated state. "Doc-"

"Shh…" Doc hushed him in a low voice, "Alice is asleep, what brings you over here?"

Sheriff swallowed, lowering his volume, "first I want to apologies about our little, mishap back there. You were right, we're tired, we just get grumpy sometimes…"

Doc nodded, a small smile came a crossed his face, "Accepted as always old friend."

Sheriff nodded, "Second, I think something is going on with either my gut or, something." He flinched like he was electrocuted or something. "My gut has been cramping and knotting, ever since Alice was place under medical care."

Doc blinked at his statement, first of all Sheriff would _never _come to him unless it was an emergency. Second, the connection between Alice and his gut was too much of a coincidence. Sheriff's gut was never wrong, and Alice… "Sheriff, I have a feeling nothing is wrong with your gut…"

Sheriff raised a frame but didn't get a chance to say a word.

Doc motioned for him to come over to his side, the mirror still exactly in place as it was before Sheriff came in. "tell me what you see…"

Sheriff glanced at the mirror, "Doc I can't look at her undercarriage." He whispered lowly at Doc, which just motion at the mirror again.

Sheriff sighed and took a long look, his eyes darted from side to side as he looked all over for something, "Doc I'm not sure what-" then he paused, his eyes wide, a shiver rippled through his frame.

Doc closed his eyes, knowing he was right, devastated that he was right.

"Doc, is this-?"

Doc opened his eyes, "mmm hmmm. It's exactly what I thought it was."

Sheriff looked over at Doc, his eyes still wide. " She's- She's-… Did you find out what triggers it."

Doc shrugged lightly, "I have theories, mostly relating to her ring… but other than that, I'm on the same playing field as you."

"No your right…"

Both Doc and Sheriff snapped their attention to the woken up Alice; her eyes were a little glassy from lack of sleep as her voice still had grogginess to it.

"I'm sorry for waking you kiddo, we could leave-"

Alice shook her head "No don't worry about it." She took a raspy breath which rattled through her airways, "I've had that plate in for so long, I completely forgot I had it."

Sheriff and Doc couldn't believe what they were hearing, "It is triggered by my ring…" she rasped out, causing her to cough.

"Don't stress yourself out," Doc commented lowly as Alice shook her head again.

"My father put them inside everyone in my family… that's how they died."

Sheriff swallowed, "Your father put _restrictor life plates _in your family?"

Alice nodded.

Sheriff blinked several times, those plates have been used for touchier for … god knows how long. How they worked is that they installed the plate on top of the drive shaft near the engine block. Then they connect and install a block to hook up to the victims "trigger setting" , some of them are heart rate, voice, adrenalin rush, or sometimes if they are curl… breathing. But he has never heard of it hooked up to a gift before… plus a couple of days ago, he has never heard of rings or anything like that.

Sheriff swallowed, "Doc can I talk to you for a seconded?"

Doc nodded, "Kiddo, you can go back to sleep." Alice nodded as she tried to settle down on the lift.

Sheriff pulled at Doc side, encouraging him to leave his clinic to talk to him more privately.

The door creaked open, letting the officer and the Doctor out of the place. Sheriff stopped suddenly, as Doc slowly turned to him.

"Doc, that's no joke… she's-"

Doc raised a tire, making Sheriff stop in mid speech. "Sheriff there's nothing I can do."

Sheriff snapped his head back, "Your giving up on Alice?"

Doc shook his head, "I never did."

"Then why aren't you trying to get that thing out of her? She will die with that plate lodged in her engine."

Doc paused, his eyes hit the ground… "Because I can't."

Sheriff's gut sent a shot of pain up his frame….

#######

The cobalt Hudson and the black and white mercury sat in front of the clinic talking inaudibly from the distance the group of cars sat away from the town. The binoculars dropped from the minions brown eyes, "Boss, I think I know where she is."

The black van with the binoculars turned to face his mostly black framed boss, who came rolling forward. "I shouldn't be surprised that she survived that ordeal."

The gray SUV followed the boss and parked next to the black van. His thick tread tore up the ground like it was butter. The black van chuckled, "Hey Scott, when are you going to change out of your snow tires?"

The SUV smacked the van on sight, "Shut up Chuck! It makes me look more, powerful!"

The van rolled his brown eyes as he talked to himself, "it makes you look like an idiot…"

"What did you say?" the SUV eased dropped on his "private" conversation.

"Nothing, I was just saying that it makes you look like an idiot!"

The SUV named Scott snapped his head back, "You did NOT just say that."

The black van named Chuck smirked, "and what if I did?"

"Both of you knock it off!" the boss hissed, venom gushed in his words. Both of the minions shut their mouths as they swallowed a hearty gulp.

The boss snatched the binoculars out of the vans grasp as he looked through them with his own green eyes. The Hudson hornet nodded at the officer as the cope took off, leaving the Hudson to himself. "Wait a minute…" the boss hissed under his breath as he zoomed in on the Hudson, the cobalt paint made his white walls stand out from his frame. His crystal blue eyes stayed on the ground for a bit, and then looked up at him, almost like he could see the guy holding the binoculars. "I know him… that's Hudson, the 'fabulous' Hudson hornet." The Hudson sighed as he rolled inside the clinic; a glimpse of Alice was caught by the leader's sharp eyes. "He's become a Doctor? Hmm, finally grew a heart there huh '_huddy_'."

He chuckled at his little pet name for him back then. "I think that Jack here should pay little 'huddy' a visit."

***shrug* it's alright I guess.**


	10. The Doorway to the past

**Chapter 10 is here! **_**'cars'= **_**not mine, pixar!**

**Christmas is around the corner! And I'm pretty broke… so what do I do? Write the next chapter.**

**Life rings**

**Chapter 10: The Doorway to the past**

_**Tap tap tap**_

Doc crack open his tired eyes, the sun beams the peaked in through the blinds, causing the dust to dance in its rays. The sun was lower than it was this morning… did he fall asleep?

He blinked, trying to get his vision to focus on his surroundings. His clean, neatly organized clinic's examination room was where he sat… where he dozed off next to…

Alice was lower on the ground than before; Doc lowered her down when he was done examining the plate. The horrible plate was lodged in deep, messing with it could cause her to go into engine failure, or death itself. Same goes with her ring, the trigger, if she used her gift one more time, death was sure to come.

Doc smiled very warmly, father like, as she rested on him. His sides felt damp, probably from her possibly drooling on him. He blinked again, finding a tear running down his frame… had he been crying?

He sat there for a moment, try to remember after the examination…

_Doc sighed, 'there is nothing I can do…'_

_Doc shifted his weight as his body crashed to the ground in defeat, 'there is nothing I can do… I've never felt so useless in my life.'_

"_Doc?"_

_Doc looked over at Alice, who gave a warm smile back to him, "Doc, don't blame yourself."_

_Doc tried to straighten himself out like he normally does, but this time it was difficult, his heart was too involved._

"_Doc, when it happens, it happens. That's how life is…"_

_Doc's jaws tightened, death was a touchy subject. "You shouldn't think like that kiddo. You have a whole life ahead of you… you…"_

_Alice sighed, "Doc doesn't make it harder than what it is…"_

_Doc swallowed, "How can you speak about this so easily? it's not like you're going to use your power any time soon .you'll be able too-"_

_Alice bottom lip trembled, "I might have to…"_

_Doc's eyes feel to the floor, "I can't just stop using my gift Doc;" she continued "it comes when it is called… I don't do it; it's just a body's reaction."_

_Doc closed his eyes, 'you're so young…I don't want you to turn out like I almost did.'_

_The silence settled the uneasiness in the room, until a single question sturred everything up again, "I always wondered what this was…"_

_Doc looked up to what she was talking about, the crystal hood ornament that sat on the shelf, the gold and silver twisted within each other up with in the crystal its self. Doc smiled slightly, "that's a long story…"_

_Alice raised a frame, "Who was it for?"_

_Doc rolled over by her side, "Christine was her name, I thought she was the one a long time ago, actually I was around your age Alice."_

_Alice raised a frame, "What happened?"_

_Doc looked over at her, "let's just say she didn't want a washed up racecar." he paused, "you didn't know that yet."_

_Alice tilted her head, "You were a racecar?"_

_Doc chuckled very hollowly, "Again, long boring story."_

_Alice leaned up against him, a huge yawn escaped her features as she rested on him. "you know, she's missing someone great."_

_Doc's smiled warmly, "What makes you say that?" _

_Alice sighed contently, " I have never have meet such a caring car ever in my life. You know…" she yawned again, "Sometimes I see you as my dad, or I wish that you were…"_

_Doc felt his eyes burn, as she continued, "it's kind of silly, but I am grateful that my father beat me that night and left me there to die. 'cause if that never happened I would of never meet a town full of loving folk before, never felt loved… never meet you."_

_Alice nuzzled his side as she tried to get comfortable, "I can never thank you enough for changing my life…" she whispered as drowsiness was getting the best of her._

_Doc's lip quivered, as he felt tears running down his fenders, 'you would make an amazing daughter Alice. But that's not why I'm beating myself up…'_

_He took in a ragged breath as the tears still streamed down his fender and hood, tracing paths down his frame. ' I made a promise I can't keep, I said you were safe here, and here I am, helpless while I watch another day go by. Another lucky day that your still here… with us… with me.'_

**Tap tap tap**

Doc snapped his thoughts out of his head to the noise at his door. Someone was knocking for him?

Doc slowly rose from his place, trying not to bother Alice, and rolled to the door. He pushed it open to three cars sitting in front of him.

Doc raised a frame, "Can I help you?"

The black and green muscle car smiled, his jade green eyes pierced at his soul. "Yes _huddy, _I believe you can…" He smirked at him.

Doc eyes slowly widened as something tugged strongly at his memory bank, "Jack…"

Suddenly the SUV charged at him with all of his might, smashing Doc's roof hard, and everything went black…

#########

The only light that came from this poorly lit prison were from the free hanging light bulbs that were placed randomly throughout the cells. The dark damp room witnessed the pain and hatred that was displayed over the years. This place made actual prison seem like a vacation, it's this horrible..._horrible _place that she called her home, daily beatings were a living, starvation was a daily occurrence, and the _oil stained floors_ from her wounds was her bed. She's lost her house, her dignity, her life, and everything that was important to her. How can she live in this place for so long? How come she had this unbreakable hope of a better life, hoping something in this dreadful life would give out… giving her a chance…

The doors suddenly busted open, scaring the prisoner to the back of her cell, hiding herself from the light, hiding herself from the hell that will come to her. But something was different, they didn't say anything to her. She opened one of her eyes as she watched the guards rolled past her cell with… another victim, unconscious and forcefully dragged to the empty cell next to hers, they weren't here for her. That was a minor relief to her.

The poor victim lied in a crumpled heap, not moving, no sign of life when the guards closed his only exit. The guard chuckled at each other as they rolled down the hallway, passed her cell, to the door at the end of the hallway. As the door made a satisfying "clicking" noise behind the two guards, life started to stir in the room again.

She rolled out into the light, the light grazing her scarred features, making them stand out from her dark warn paint. Curiosity tugged at her heart, as her eyes seemed to be glued to the new stranger on her left. She took her time rolling over, just in case he was faking being knocked out… he wasn't. His roof was dented, his sides were bashed in, and his seemed to be dripping oil… She swallowed, knowing far too well as to where he came from, she understood pain. But, she examined him more closely, why would he deserve a fate like this? His cobalt blue paint was hard to see under the layers of red dirty that miss colored his sides that slightly moved under his painful breaths.

"How is he?" a voice called from the cell to the right of hers.

She sighed as she continued to stare at the new comer, "I don't know Quinn. He's unconscious. Those sadists must of pummeled him until he couldn't move." She replied to her cell mate, Quinn, in cell number 1. He's been locked up here for over a year now for being caught on the property line. He was young, and in her opinion, too young to be here. Her mother instincts kicked in when Quinn was thrown in here.

"oh…" he said simply as the deep red charger leaned up against the cell wall that divided her from Quinn. Thankfully the dividers were just bars, so you could interact with whoever was in the other cell. It kept the cars from going insane.

"Sir?" she called to the new comer, hoping to encourage him to respond. His body didn't move, not even a flick of his tire in response.

"Sir, can you hear me?" she called again, but still no response came from the beaten hide.

"Wow, he's really out cold." Quinn commented as he looked at the new comer from the distance. " I don't think he's going to wake up anytime soon."

She sighed deeply, " I know it could take a while. I did this for three days until you finally woke up."

Quinn shifted a little uncomfortably, "yeah, I try not to remember that day."

She chuckled, "Quinn, you can be overdramatic sometimes."

A movement caught her attention, as the figure began to come back to life. His tires twitched a little as a moan escaped the cars grill. His eye lids fluttered a little before lifting from their place, his crystal blue eyes were very unfocused… one eye was dilated.

"Sir?" she questioned the dazed figure that seemed to look through her… he had a concussion.

"Sir? Can you hear me?"

The figure's eyes shifted, trying to focus on her… "yeah…" he rasped very weakly at her question.

She swallowed, "Sir, your eyes are not dilating. You might have experienced a concussion."

The figures blinked again, the eyes still didn't change, "wouldn't be surprised. They weren't messing around."

She smiled weakly, "they don't. They tend to over kill on things."

He coughed lightly, getting rid of the dust in his airways, "where am I?"

"In short, living hell. Good luck trying to get out of this place. Jack's got this place locked and solid." Quinn commented in a joking type of tone, getting a glare from his cell mate.

The stranger sighed as he rested his frame on the divider, separating her from him by inches. "then I'll fit in well here…" he trailed off as he shut his eyes, his body sunk lower on the bars until his frame hit the floor.

"So how'd you get caught?" Quinn asked the stranger; not bothering to take in the message that he was in no mood to talk. She shot him a glare, which made him back off a bit.

The stranger didn't answer the question, all that question did was open his eyes again and looked over at his new "next cell neighbor". His eyes were still miss sized, one of his pupils fully dilated compared to the normal one. She swallowed; she had to get him to talk…

"Don't worry, that's just Quinn. Sometimes curiosity takes over for his manors." She said very calmly to the depressed figure on the other side of the divider. "I'm sorry that you are stuck here with us."

The misshapen crystal orbs looked at her, almost pleading for help. But the entire guy behind the crystal eyes did was moan a little bit from shifting his position, and blinked slowly to let her know that he was listening.

She leaned up along the same divider he was, "Sir,-"

"Please don't call me that." He said lowly, making her stop in the middle of her speech. He sighed, "I can't stand it when people call me 'sir'. My name is Dr. Hudson; but every calls me Doc for short."

She smiled and nodded in a greeting gesture, "Nice to meet you Dr. Hudson. How long have you been a Doctor?"

Doc cracked a smile, making her smile wider, "long enough."

She nodded at his comment, "that must be hectic at times, with the rush of people in the emergence room all the time."

He shook his head, "No, not at all. I work in a small town called Radiator Springs. And never, as long as I worked there, have I had a full house in my clinic."

She nodded, "that must be nice, getting to know your patients."

He blinked in agreement, "it is." His smile fell, "it is…"

She raised a frame, "What's on your mind Doc?"

Doc took a minute to think, it's been bothering him all day, "On how I broke a promise."

She looked over at him, "How'd you break a promise? I don't mean to be nosy or anything it's just…" she trailed off, not really sure on how to put it.

Hudson look over again, his eyes still haven't adjusted to the trauma that he had just went through, which started bothering her just as much as the oil that still dripped from underneath him.

He shook his head, "I understand don't worry about setting me off."

She looked at him funny, catching her off guard, "how'd you know?"

He chuckled weakly, "I do the same with my patients."

She chuckled with him, "well okay, maybe I should be harsher for now on."

He chuckled again, filling the walls with this unusual sound of joy, making his sides hurt. "aw ow ow." He took in a breath to easy his hurting sides, "I think I might have broken something…"

She slow fitted her tire in between the bars of the divider and placed it gingerly on his side, and closed her eyes, feeling around the area. Doc took in a sharp breath when her tire landed on a tender spot.

Her eyes opened again, as the dark color of her eyes rippled like water, "I think you suffer a concussion, broken rocker panels, front tie rod is blown, and parts of your frame have stress fractures … and a plate."

Doc looked over at her in surprise, "were you a nurse at one time?"

She smiled, "I've practiced for a few years."

Doc raised a frame, "what made you stop?"

She shrugged, "changes in my life… I had to adapt."

Doc closed his eyes, " I wonder how Alice is doing."

His company raised fame, "whose Alice?"

Doc sighed, "The promise I broke, I told Alice I would protect her, and I can't do anything about it while I'm in here… and I can't help her stay alive."

She swallowed, "She had a plate didn't she?"

Doc one eye ridge rose, "are you a mind reader too by any chance?"

She smiled, "no but apparently I'm good a guessing, like does she have breath taking violet eyes?"

Doc disfigured eyes widened, "how do you know that?"

Her smile widened, "My name is Kendal Linkheart, and Alice is my daughter."

**And scene ….there should be some questions stirring in your minds right now, like **_**where's alice? **_**And **_**how'd Kendal stay alive?**_


	11. The Living Mirror

**Hey guys! Sorry it took so long, college is being a pain. So let's go over some DUH facts… shall we?**

**~'**_**cars'**_**= Pixar**

**~Lovely made up characters are mine! lol, you're welcome to write about them and/or use them in your stories, just send me a message about it, okay? Sweet!**

**~and last but not least, thank you for the amazing people that read and write reviews for my story… you know who you are! And I thank you all from the bottom of my heart! It means a lot to me!**

**And now… on with the story…**

**Life Rings**

**Chapter 11: Living Mirror**

Doc froze, his horrible concussion eyes widened at the words that just came out of her mouth, "You're Alice's mother?"

She nodded unsurely, due from the surprised tone that he used, "Yes, is there a problem with that?"

Doc couldn't react the way he wanted to, the flood of emotion was just too powerful for him to respond to the question. All those nights that Alice has cried in her sleep because she didn't have a family, the painful memories that flooded in her thoughts and the suffering with a broken lonely heart were for nothing. Part of it was. She had someone here, her own flesh and blood…her mother. The one who gave her life sat inches away from the new care taker of Alice.

He raised enough to face Alice's mother more head on. His burry vision wasn't helping him at all; he wanted to see her, to believe it. His eye lids crashed down on to each other, the dizziness was killing him.

The figure seemed to move closer, "Hudson, how can you see with those eyes? Don't they bother you?"

Doc grunted, cracking his eyes a bit, "More than you think…"

The blurry figure named Kendal fit something in between the bars, in the shape of a tire, "Come here, and let me see."

Doc obediently rolled over to the blurry Kendal, anything that would help him would be greatly appreciated. He had trouble concentrating on anything if his eyes kept making him dizzy on top of the head-ach that he received with the concussion.

Doc looked at her with his horrible vision; Kendal's dark eyes caught the light just right to reflect this white orb back into his eyes. The light that came from the random light bulb that hung above Kendal's dirty, rusty cell. The cell floor creped out Doc the most. It looked like a doctor had to perform surgery… and didn't clean the oil from the floor… causing it to stain over the years…_'wait'_

Doc blinked, his vision was clearing on him, the Chrysler 300 custom's navy blue paint shined in the light, showing scars from past beating. The flecks in the deep blue… no it wasn't deep blue or navy, it was something more… alive, more creative than just navy blue, it was like… the ocean at twilight, blue. Her eyes…it wasn't the light reflecting off of her eyes… her eyes glowed white. Doc paused, they way they glowed… it was almost like… like…

' _Doc's eyes widened, his heart stopped for a second, "oh no…" he watch the tractors coming after him closing in the feet that separated them both._

"_Don't worry, Doc."_

_Doc looked over at Alice, who was embracing him at his side, how did she…?" Alice?"_

_Alice's violet eyes were vibrant; her eyes glowed, slowly letting something seep out from the violet eyes in an unnatural way. A light Jade green shade faded in with the violet in a brilliant ring, the energy rippling in the ring like water. She blinked, the green stood out strongly as she looked at the stampede that was only feet away from them. Doc shielded Alice and shut his eyes, hoping he would get most of the impacted, and he embraced for the impact… but surprisingly, it never came.'_

Like…a ring…

The snow white ring rippled like water around her midnight blue eyes, she chuckled at the expression she received from the Hudson. "Is it better?"

Doc couldn't talk, he was in a trance. He could feel everything broken part in his body mending back together. It wasn't painful at all. It felt like as if coolant ran though his body, soothing everything that hurt. He felt his temperature drop when that ice cold feeling went to the source of the pain… his engine block. He thought that the heal process for his engine would feel just the same as everything else, feeling the broken parts mend together… but it wasn't that feeling at all. It was more of a "rejected" feeling than a mending one.

A loud clattering sound came from underneath him would have made Doc jump, if he wasn't in this hypnotic trance. Just as Doc was about to ask what caused the noise… the ice cold feeling in his body subsided.

Doc shook the feeling off of him as he snapped his perfect sight back at her lonely beautiful blue eyes, they were alone this time.

She smiled weakly at him; her eyes seemed tired all of a sudden as they slowly rolled to the back of her head. Doc wanted to reach out to catch her but the stupid divider prevented him to do anything. All he could do was stand there and watch. Her body hit the floor hard as her whole suspension gave out on her suddenly weak body.

"Wh-What?" Doc felt his heart thump under his hood, the doctor reflexes kicking in as he pressed his frame on the divider.

"Don't worry there Doc, She's perfectly fine." The young cell mate called through Kendal's cell to the fidgeting Doctor.

Doc shot his head up, "Someone passing out is _perfectly fine_?" he snapped at the young charger.

The dark red Charger met the Hudson's eyes with pure innocents, "Yeah, perfectly fine. Removing plates are harder than they look. You've must of seen them before, the black saw blade type things? They are-"

"Whoa, a Plate? What are you talking about?" Doc interrupted Quinn's explanation.

Quinn nodded once in his direction, "See for yourself."

Doc realized that Quinn wasn't nodding at all, he was motioning what was underneath him. Doc felt his one eye ridge raise as he back up.

On the ground was indeed what Quinn had said… a plate. The razor sharp blades stuck out in one unified direction, the black box lied in a crumpled heap next to that…horrible death plate. Fresh oil speckled the ground from where he once stood… Jack wasn't messing around with him; He wanted Doc to die slowly…and painfully.

Doc swallowed, Kendall did more than just heal his sight… she saved his life.

"She has a great gift." Quinn commented gently, testing the waters to see if Doc was still edgy, "The gift of healing."

Doc glanced up at him, then back at Kendal's sleeping frame. _'She able to remove death plates…'_ he thought to himself, he couldn't believe it! _'With a single touch of her tire, I was completely healed.'_ Kendal's sides rose and fell in a steady rhythm as her tires twitched, _'she's a miracle on wheels…' _

"You know, she had six of those plates put in her." Quinn added on to Doc's shook.

"Six?"Doc blinked in disbelief. Quinn nodded as he pointed to the corner of her cell.

The neatly stacked up pile of plates stood, hidden within the shadows of her cell… Quinn nodded, "She can never die."

Doc looked over at Quinn again, "She can _never_ die?"

Quinn nodded then paused. Then he shook his head then paused unsure again. Then shrugged, "Actually, no one really knows. Since she could regenerate every cell in her body and repair any damage on her…" He shrugged, "I really don't know…"

Doc looked back at her sleeping frame, a smile tugged at the corner of his mouth, "Wow…" escaped into his breath.

"Can you imagine if she didn't have that gift? She would have been dead, I would have been dead... you, mostly likely."

Doc looked over, "why did Jack put a plate in you?"

Quinn half shrugged, "Afraid of my ring would be a good guess."

Doc blinked, " You have a gift too?" He gave out a thoughtful 'huh' as the mind wonder off _'who doesn't have a gift now and days…'_

Quinn smiled slightly, "Yeah but mines kind of dumb."

Doc shifted his weight, preparing for a long story, "How are you related to Kendal?"

Quinn raised a frame, "I'm not."

Doc blinked, surprised, "then how do you have…"

Quinn's smiled widened, "well not directly anyway… My father was Kendal's great great great great Grandmothers, sisters, great great great great GREAT grandson. But in reality were not related at all, we just have similar ancestors. And with similar ancestors comes similar abilities. My father was a transporter, he could transport to any place that he could think of in a blink of an eye. I remember as a kid traveling to places all over the world, learning how to speak French by breakfast and eating sushi by dinner…" He sighed contently, "Those were good times…"

Doc nodded slowly like a therapist would do, "what happened?"

Quinn sighed as he leaned up against the divider that separated Kendal from him, "Well, like I said before me and my dad would transport anywhere he could possibly imagine… and …"Doc caught the sight of Quinn's jaw tighten, his warm light brown eyes fell to the floor…

"Quinn, you don't have to answer my question if you don't-"

"I do, it's just… it still hurts Doc." Quinn swallowed hard, "I should have reacted better… but, what was I suppose to do…"

Doc raised a frame, the questions weren't answered which played with Doc's mind… "I'm sure it was the best thing you can do."

Quinn shook his head, "You don't know what happened…"

Doc put a supportive smile on his face, "Then let me know."

Quinn released a heavy breath to steady his raw nerve. Then he raised his rich brown eyes straight in Doc's eyes, "We were trying to get home…"

' "_Dad what's the matter?"Quinn eyes looked up at his dad's tired mismatched eyes, a birth mark on the eyes. His single Ice blue eye stood out so much it was no match to his normal rich brown eye… the same as Quinn's. He always saw his father's eyes more as a gift than a mistake. Quinn grinned to himself, He wished his eyes had a 'mistake'._

_His father's gold color ring rippled like water as it slowly weakened away. "I need a breather son. Going half way around the world isn't easy, plus having a companion doesn't make things any easier."_

_Quinn smiled weakly, "Sorry."_

_His father chuckled deeply, "Quinn, I wouldn't want to do anything else in the whole world. Don't worry about it."_

_Quinn smile strengthened as his father let out a breath, closing his eyes, "I can't stand the dizziness…"_

_Quinn nudged up the 62' Dodge Dart's silver hide, "Don't worry Dad, it'll pass." Quinn looked around him for familiar surroundings as he came to the conclusion that there was none. Nothing was familiar; everything looked so… strange and dark. It was eerie, the barbed wire fence, the old warehouse, the moving shadows._

_Quinn took a minute to process the fact that shadows don't move… without their hosts…_

"_Dad, can we go now please. This place is kind of creeping me out…" Quinn begged as he pressed closer to his father's side._

_The father opened his eyes slowly, and found out very quickly what was Quinn's problem. Something was pressed up against his hide, making a spin shivering __**'click'**_

_The father's piercing Ice blue eye caught a dark figure on his right holding a 44. Magnum to his hide, one of the most powerful handguns ever made… one round can go right through him like butter. _

"_So, what brings you folk here at such an hour?" a voice spoke from his other side. He could only look at him though his brown eye on his left, fearing that moving a muscle would cause the one with the Magnum might slip._

"_Just passing through," he said as evenly as possible, "we will get out of your way as soon as possible. We didn't mean to disturb you."_

_The black car with green streaks smiled, "Oh, that's quite alright. It's just that I must ask you fine gentlemen one little question before you leave."_

_The father raised his eye frame slightly, "Oh?"_

_The green eyes that this car had sent chills down his spin, just as much as the Magnum did, there was something twisted about this guy. "Yes," he spoke… a little over dramatic, "It's just that… well"_

_The Magnum was pressed up harder up his side making the father swallow. The green car chuckled, "You must tell me how you… the both of you, just magically appeared inside my fence."_

_Quinn's eyes widened a little, knowing that this creep was on to them. He knew that sometimes his father had to stop halfway through traveling because he used his gift too much, getting dizzy when you're using you gift wasn't a good idea. But this was the first time they have ever been caught doing it._

_His father tensed, which made the green 'man-of-power' to chuckle, "You can tell me, I can keep a secret."_

_Quinn's father sighed, "I… teleported here… by accident."_

_The green car cackled in amusement, "This is great!" he shouted at the world, laughter was taking over his sanity._

_The father rose slightly as the gun dug deep into his side, "Listen, if you would just give me a minute to build my energy, me and my son will be on our way."_

_He stopped laughing, "No! I'm afraid we can't do that."_

_The boss grabbed Quinn and ripped him from his father's side, making Quinn shout, "Let me go! Don't touch me! DAD!"_

_His father lurched forward, when the gun cut into his side… his last warning. "uh uh uh, You should've know better __**'dad'**__. One false move and…bang."_

_His father swallowed, "Let-him-go."_

_The boss stared him in the eyes, "What are you going to do?"_

_Quinn's father barred his teeth, "Don't listen and you'll find out."_

_He chuckled bitterly, "Scott, take this thing to the cells." He said as he shoved Quinn roughly at his minion. Scott chuckled, "Don't mind if I do boss." He said as he shoved Quinn hard enough to make his fame hit the ground._

_The father was furious, "I will say it one more time… Let-Him-Go."_

_The boss chuckled as he shrugged, "I did what you said, __**I**__ let him go."_

_Quinn got back up on his tires, his eyes felt intense. "Dad…" he spoke softly when Scott smashed his side to keep going. He was basically dragged to go through the doors, when he dreaded to hear that sound… that sound would haunt him for the rest of his life… the sound of gun fire that came from behind him. that hallow sound of pierced metal. And the last hazy breath of his father…'_

"What sucks the most is that I didn't get my gift until he died," Quinn gave out a shaky sigh, that echo was still haunting him to this day. "But it's not like I could have saved him or anything with my gift."

Doc nodded slowly, his story was not only hard to tell but hard to listen too, "Is your gift anything like your father's?"

"No. I wish though. My gift is…" he sighed, "It's easier to show it that to tell you about it."

His warm brown eyes focused in on Doc's crystal blue making Doc finally get a chance to examine his eyes. The warm brown sugar eyes rippled with intensity as copper shards started seeping through. The vibrant copper ring reflected the light in a circular fashion, tracing the outline of his power…

Then he blinked, the brown eyes disappeared completely, the copper wasn't even present in his eyes, nothing was the same at all! However as Doc noticed, not the same doesn't mean not familiar as he was staring into a pair of familiar crystal blue eyes…

Doc had to shake his head and take another look, his eyes was playing tricks on him…

He looked at a dirty dark blue… cobalt 1951 Hudson Hornet with crystal blue eyes, and surprisingly no damage on the car… it was a perfect, mirror image of himself.

The reflection cracked a smile and gave out a low hearty chuckle, "You see?" he rasped out with a familiar gravel voice, "How can you save someone when you're locked up in here?"

Doc frames rose tremendously as he watched in a blink of an eye, the crystal blue eyes flipped back to the warm brown sugar eyes with the liquid copper ring that rippled like white water.

"Everyone knows I'm in here," Quinn continued, this time his voice was back to its earthy tone, "So my gift is useless in side this… prison."

Doc nodded in agreement, "Yes, but you gift is quite impressive. Just one thing…"

Quinn raised a frame.

Doc's gave a crooked smile, "Don't mimic me ever again."

**Again I am VERY sorry it took so long… this story is very complex… you'll see….**


	12. Christine

**I felt really bad last time for letting the readers wait… so this time around I'm going to take advantage on my month vacation from College.**

**Duh facts: **_**'cars'**_**= Pixar…. You should know my characters by now, if not… why are you reading my 12****th**** chapter?!?**

**Wow, 12 chapters! I can't believe that people like to read my story! Thank you all!!!!**

**Now… on with the story…**

**Life Rings**

**Chapter 12: Christine**

Quinn smiled, "Don't worry I won't copy you without your permission."

Doc raised a frame, questioning that statement.

Quinn raised a frame, "If I ever get permission?"

Doc's state didn't relax as his questioning expression rose a little more.

Quinn sighed dramatically, rolling his eyes, "Fine. I will **never** look like you ever again...Happy?"

Doc chuckled deeply, "That's more like it."

"But what if someone wanted to kidnap you, and I had to look like you to take your place to save your life?" Quinn's young mind was restless, there had to be _some_ time that he could be Doc.

Doc looked at him as if he just asked a stupid question; his eye looked up at the cell walls that isolated him, and then back at the young thinker.

Quinn rolled his eyes at Doc's motion, "After this! When we're out of here, and _then_ can I?"

Doc looked at him funny, "I have a sheriff at my beck and call. He will come and help me out…" Doc felt his body sigh, _'he always came through in the end… Sheriff, where are you?"_

Quinn snapped his head back, "Whoa, a sheriff? Like the head of the whole police squad, sheriff?"

Doc nodded, then shifted his head side to side unsure, "Well, he is the police squad. Our town is so small, it only need's a sheriff, a dang good of a sheriff too."

"So the only sheriff in town will show up at you house at anytime, within seconds, just for you."

Doc nodded again, "The sheriff visits me a lot, so much it's almost like I have a roommate." He smiled at that little fact. Sheriff and Doc were almost like brothers, Doc always felt like the younger brother, hiding among the shadows of the older brother. Sheriff was quite the talker with a bold personality, you say something that offended him; He'll hate you for it and argue that you were wrong. Doc on the other hand was the thinker and quieter type than sheriff; you say something that offended Doc, Doc would make a short comment and move away from the situation. He would have arguments in the head and think through the situation while Sheriff would react to the situation without thinking. They have an unbreakable bond, they were there for each other… but…_'does he know that I'm gone?'_

Quinn raised a frame, feeling as though it was a play on words "Is the Sheriff your wife?" Quinn asked like anyone would… and started to wish he didn't. The look on Doc's face said it all. Doc's emotions drained from his features. "No, not at all. _He_ is more like a brother to me than anything else."

Quinn felt his face drop, along with his heart… and just when he thought he was getting along with Doc. He knew a raw memory when he saw it, and she was it.

"Doc, what happened to her?"

Doc sighed as he turned away from him, Quinn saw right threw him, "It was a long, long time ago…" his face shifted just enough for him to catch a glimpse of Quinn's concerned face. "Like you said before, it's still hurts; it's just that it's been so long, I-." Doc's eyes was drawn to the ground… he hated talking.

Quinn rested the front of him on the divider, "How do you mean?" he asked very even.

A pause, Quinn thought, couldn't be more deafening. It was so quite his own breathing seemed to ring in his ears… "Well," he voice was quite, but it seemed so loud from the sudden stillness, "to tell you the truth, I haven't thought about her in about twenty years… and then out of the blue, that sore spot inflamed all over again…"

"I know what you mean," Quinn leaned against the stone wall that connected to the divider that he was up against. "It's something to do with this place… at least for me. You have a lot of time here to think, and when you think… well, I guess that's when you hurt yourself the most. Quinn swallowed, "I'm sorry."

Doc let out a heavy breath, "I haven't talked about her **ever** in my life."

He turned back around to face him, his face was grave like, and his crystal… wait…

Doc looked up with purple eyes, "and there is something about this place… it makes me want to talk about it. I hope that's fine with-"

Quinn's eyes went wide, making Doc feel out of place. His eyes flipped back to the crystal blue eyes when his self confidence fell down the tubes, "Alright, I guess I got my answer to that question."

Quinn shook his head quickly, "no, no. I was just-"he shook his head again, "never mind, I was just spacing out. You were saying something about _her_?"

Doc took a while to register what had just been said, then nodded. "Okay… it's a complicated thing…"

Doc sighed, "I was a famous racecar, you know the fame, the glory, everything. Yup that was me."

Quinn's eyes widened, "_you _were a famous racecar?"

Doc sighed in frustration, "Yes that was me, famous and the best out of all of them. Sponsors begging me to let me sponsor their product, fans screeching my name from the stands," Doc let out a heavy breath, and took in a deeper one, "the crew chief became my only true friend, and racing was my passion. I had everything I have ever wanted, all the things I could have ever dreamed of… that is, until I saw her red fins go right by me, cutting through the air that I breathed." Doc sighed in a dreamlike state, "Her name was Christine, and boy let me tell you, she was some women… she has never taken a drive without some bystanders drooling at her tires. And her eyes, who can forget those eyes, those reddish brown eyes that seem to stare through your soul, and she took my heart away. We dated for a while, and I was foolish to think that I was ready for a lifetime committed relationship."

Quinn smiled, his heart felt warm, "You were going to propose to her?"

Doc felt a shy smile on his face, "Yes I was. I had a hood ornament all picked out and ready for her after the race. I went with the classic hood ornament instead of the popular hubcap or a license plate holder. But both of them seemed too subtle for my taste."

Quinn smiled, "I wasn't a big fan of the license plate holder either."

Doc raised a frame; a crooked smile took over his shy one, "Oh? Have you ever proposed to someone before?"

Quinn's dark red features brightened as he scuffed his tire a crossed the floor, a bit embarrassed, "Well, no. But I kind of think about it from time to time…"

Doc blinked approvingly, "I did too kid, I did too."

Quinn's smiled, feeling that they were getting along again, "So, what happened?"

Doc shifted his weight, "Well, it's hard to explain. At the time I wasn't really in the right state of mind for the race or anything else. The day before the race, I got into a fight with Mr. Wattsmen, my crew chief, about Christine. I told him I was going to propose to her the night of the race and he didn't take it lightly. He told me how Christine was mentally abusing me, controlling me and restricting everything that I did. 'Your changing' I remember him saying to me, 'she's changing you. So much in fact I can't even tell who the hell you are anymore! That's saying a lot for someone who basically raised you.' I was young, I didn't have manors, I snapped at him because I couldn't open my eyes to see what he meant and left without giving him a chance to defend himself."

Quinn waited patiently for him to continue.

Doc took the time to piece together his thoughts, "After a while I couldn't live with myself, and I went back to his house to apologies. I remember distinctly feeling the coldness in his house when I rolled in and thinking to myself that 'that was strange'. The house was surprisingly dark; he always kept some sort of light on in the house because of his little fear of the dark. And…"

Doc swallowed hard as he seemed a little uncomfortable, "He was breathing shallow as the air seemed to gargle in his throat. Oil covered the floor that he laid on… I was in such a panic, I went over to the phone and called for help, telling them that Mr. Wattsmen was bleeding all over the place and his life was at risk, but I didn't know that it was already too late, he was already dead."

Quinn blinked the shocked expression from his face as he tried to seem more understanding about this topic, "What happened to him?"

Doc shrugged "I don't know, some claim that it was accidental death, and others claim it was suicide. Apparently there wasn't enough evidence to prove anything and the detectives said that there were no signs of a struggle or an intruder…"

Quinn sighed, "Do you believe that in some way he killed himself?"

Doc's eyes flashed purple, "No. He was a smart man, he would never do something as foolish as hurting himself in anyway." His words we're cold. "It was a mystery unsolved, and that's what bothering me, but not as much as not being able to apologies."

Doc sighed, remembering that night… "I went up to Christine and vented about Mr. Wattsmen's death. Christine told me that I should get over it and suck it up, I had a race to win. I remembered putting on a smile and telling her that I had a surprise for her after the race, and she smiled and said 'Does it come with your trophy?'"

Quinn shot his head back, "What!?! How can you love someone that treated you like her pet?"

Doc smiled at Quinn's reaction, "Have you ever heard the quote 'love is blind' or 'seeing life threw rose colored glasses'? That's what happened with me, I was so blind I couldn't see Christine for who she really is, and at the time I thought what she said was a little playful joke."

Quinn face was doubtful, "Ok-ay, anyways…"

Doc smiled, "You'll see over time. But any who, I was going to the track when some old guy out of nowhere stops me and demands me not to race, the race was fixed or something like that, I can't remember exactly what he said. But you know, I should have listened to him."

"What happened?" Quinn tilted his head.

"The race was fixed. One of the racers held a grudge on me for getting him disqualified last season and fixed the one turn that I had to power slide around. So that my one tire would get caught, causing me to flip in the air and tumble uncontrollably until I blacked out. When I woke up, my foundation crumbled from underneath me. I lost my career due to the fact that they thought I was all washed up, my crew chief was dead, and Christine was gone. All I had left of my past was my trophies, my racing tires, newspapers, and a hood ornament."

Quinn raised a frame, "So some ex-racer took your life away from you? Who was he, do you know?"

Doc nodded, "Yup he-"

"He was none other than Jack Piston-Grinder himself." A weak voice spoke from in between the two males of the prison, catching them both off guard. The sleeping frame shifted around a little as she started to wake up. "My husband was the ex racer…"

She looked over at Doc with weak, pleading eyes, "I'm am so sorry it happened to you… out of all the folk out in the world, why did it have to be the Fabulous Hudson Hornet?"

Doc smiled weakly, his eyes light up at the key words, "How'd you know it was me?"

She smiled weakly from the ground, "Even though I loved my Husband, I was a fan of the fabulous Hudson Hornet."

She lifted herself from the ground with effort, stumbling a little into the divider from Doc and Kendal, "I'm sorry Jack wreaked your life. That was around the time we were having problems and-"

She fell to the floor again, causing Doc to jump, "Kendal, are you alright?"

Kendal shook it off, "Still not one hundred percent. I'll just sit here a wait for a little bit." She looked up at Doc with a smile, embarrassed.

Doc chuckled lightly, "Don't hurt yourself…" then he paused "Well, if that's even possible."

She nodded, "So you never heard from Christine?"

Doc felt suddenly awkward talking about Christine with Kendal. "Ah ya… she disappeared err something." He coughed nervously.

Quinn head perked up to some noise, "Guys I think the guards are coming back."

Doc's eyes widened as he quickly backed up from the front of the cage and crumpled to the ground like he did when he first came in this prison. He hoped that the darker part of the cage can hide his healed frame. He closed his eyes… hoping for the best…

After some shifting around coming from his one side it was silent… or quieter than what it was… he could hear the sound that Quinn must of heard, the sound of chaos… Fighting, scrapping… followed by a sound of a gun going off… Doc shivered, He hoped that wasn't the sound of the .44 magnum from before…

Suddenly he heard the most strangest of sounds… it was almost like crying… but it was muffled. It sounded closer than the rest of the chaos from outside.

Doc cracked opened his eyes to find out where that strange sound was coming from. He rose cautiously as he looked over a few cells down to find Quinn shaking in the corner… whimpering.

Gun fire repeated itself on the other side of the wall… making Quinn jump and whimper even louder…

"Quinn…" He whispered loud enough to be heard. Quinn flinched, and turned to face him. His brown eyes full of fear as tears started streaming down his face. "It'll be alright, just relax and try to stay hidden."

Quinn to a second to respond to Doc's words, He blinked the tears out of his eyes and nodded in his direction. He saw Quinn move closer to the prison wall, and tucked himself in the corner, the darkest place in his cell.

Doc nodded at Quinn's reaction as he backed up towards his corner, and collapsed on the floor again, closing his eyes.

"Hudson, you're quite the speaker."

Doc opened his eyes and looked over at Kendal's midnight blue eyes, "I had to say something."

Kendal nodded, "I've never seen him so calm though shootings before. You must have made a good impression on him."

Doc smiled, a little heart warmed by the situation, "I try."

The noises ceased outside the prison, causing Doc to slam his eyes shut. Silent's was the worst, the intense moment of the adrenalin coursing through his frame to hearing his deafening raised heart rate…

The handle at the end of the hall must have jostled enough to open the door, squeaking slowly open as the figure rolled out. All Doc can do was rely on his hearing, fearing one of Jack's minions will catch him faking to be asleep and beat him… or worse… that .44 Magnum…

The tires rolled closer and closer to his cell, making Doc almost pass out, his oil pump, his heart was pumping too fast for his comfort. He felt his wheels shake violently when the minion stopped in front of his cell, pausing... why was he pausing!

The key slipped in its spot and twisted it until it made a heart stopping _**'click'**_

His cell door swung open as the figure rolled over to Doc. Doc thought… no! Doc _knew_ he was dead, either by the pain he was about to receive or because his heart hasn't had a beat for over a minute now, everything stopped, his breathing stopped as he waited…

A tire grabbed his side roughly as he lifted him up off the ground. Doc couldn't help but wince at this rough act… his cover is blown…

"Hey!" he said, "Hey! HEY!" he said as the figure shook Doc violently, causing Doc to open his eyes.

A pair of green blue eyes blinked with relief when Doc finally responded. The black and white mercury sighed with relief "Oh Thank God your alright!" he shouted as he embraced his dear friend. Doc blinked furiously, "Sheriff?" He asked almost delirious as his "older brother" rolled back. "Oh Doc I wasn't sure if I caught on the trail soon enough when I saw you lying here. You were so still I wasn't sure if you were alive."

Doc took in a quick breath, realizing that he wasn't delirious, "Sheriff! How-How'd you get in here?" Doc examined his friend to find a deep scrap down his one side, some of the oil that oozed from the wound smeared around the sight. "Sheriff your side…"

"Eh, just a graze from this." He wheeled out the well taken care of, heavy duty, massive hand gun … .44 Magnum. That wasn't his…

Doc's eyes widened, "Sheriff that's-"

Sheriff nodded, "My little Desert Eagle jammed on me during the shoot out. So this is my protection."

Doc snapped his head back, "You killed those cars?" he whispered.

Sheriff shrugged, "No, but they'll be hurting tomorrow." He blew over the top of the barrel like you see in the movies, "I can shot."

Doc smiled the most grateful smiles he has ever done. "I knew you would come."

Sheriff smiled, "Well, I have to be honest Doc… I had a little help."

In rolled in a Silver Dodge Dart with mismatched eyes, an Ice blue on his right, Brown Sugar eye on his left, His expression was stone. "My son Quinn, Where is he? Please tell me he's alright."

Quinn perked his head up to the sound of his voice. "Dad?" He turned to faced the voice, his eyes began to pool with emotion as he raced over to the door of the cell, "Daddy!" he shrilled as his father turned to face him.

"Quinn, Oh thank the lord! Son are you alright?"

Quinn nodded violently, "Yes thanks to Kendal. She saved my life on multiple occasions!"

The father brought his head back, "Kendal?" Quinn's father turned to face Sheriff, "Sheriff do you mind if I can use those keys?"

Sheriff tossed the keys over to him, as they went through the bars and landed on the floor in front of the Dodge dart. He quickly picked up the keys to unlock the prison door, he had to embrace his son for the first time in a year.

Doc looked back over at Sheriff, "That's Quinn's father? I thought he was shot by the Magnum?"

Sheriff nodded, "He was," he nudged his side as he motioned at Quinn's father's body. A scar traced from the front of his wheel hub down towards the back door, the scar getting thicker. "Apparently, he transported himself just in the nick of time, before that slug went too deep in his frame. He hated to leave his son behind, but he thought to himself, if he wasn't alive, who would rescue his son?"

Doc nodded as he stared at the father and son moment that they shared… he's heart hurt…

"I hope Alice is just as lucky." Doc said quietly.

Sheriff nudged his side, " I think I know where she is… with a little help, you'll see. But first," Sheriff rose, grunting a little from the discomfort on his one side, "Let's get everyone out of this prison."

**HA! Did you see sheriff coming in? if you did, I bet you a hundred bucks you did not see Quinn's father to be alive! Totally planned that!!! Lol! Questions should start flowing through your minds right about now… it's okay, that's normal! XD **


	13. The Crossing of Bloodlines

**Thank every single person out there that either reviewed/ put this as one of your favorites/ or just read my story. For those of you that read my story, please PLEASE REVIEW THIS!!! YOUR REVIEWS ARE CRUSAL TO THIS STORY!!!!**

**Oh and by the way, **_**'cars'**_**=Pixar… just so you know.**

**On with the story!**

**Life Rings**

**Chapter 13: The crossing of bloodlines**

"Please! Please! I won't do anything I swear!" The black van pleaded for his life. His paint felt like it was blending in with the concrete wall that he was held up against.

The gray SUV swallowed hard as he was in the same predicament as the black van. His paint rubbed against the wall as well as his friend, side by side, "Yeah what he said."

Sheriff and Quinn's father smiled at each other as they pressed harder against the minions. "Now, since we obviously have the upper tire here. You're going to do as we say, understand?" Sheriff spoke in a clear even tone.

The van nodded under sheriff's tire, but the SUV didn't follow his wise friend, "and what if we don't?" he challenged.

Quinn's father pushed harder on the SUV, making him look at him straight into his missed matched eyes. "What is your name?" he hissed.

The SUV chuckled, "Scott, what's it to ya?"

The father grinned, almost darkly, as he spoke in a harsh tone, "Hey Scott, have you ever wanted to be in two places at once?"

Scott paused under pressure, not liking the feeling he was getting from the Silver Dodge Dart, "I guess."

His Ice blue eye and Brown eye let the golden ring take over, "I can make that happen. One half of your body will be sent to France-" he shoved him harder, Making Scott's eyes widen, "and the other to China!"

Scott swallowed, fear filled his eyes. Quinn's father smiled approvingly to Scott's reaction, "I think we understand each other now."

"Wait a minute!" the black van pleaded, "Why the heck would you want hurt us? We didn't do anything to hurt you!"

"Oh really?" Sheriff question the van, "So breaking into someone's home and kidnapping people is perfectly _fine_? Almost killing a young girl is _nothing_?" Sheriff gritted his teeth, pressing harder on the van" Sorry, you mess with my friends, you've messed with me!"

The van started trembling under pressure, as the SUV whimpered. "So we have Scott and…?" Sheriff questioned the shaking Van.

"I-It's Chuck."

The Dodge Dart smiled, "Scott and Chuck, Chuck and Scott. Hmm, seems easy enough."

Scott looked over at the Dodge, "W-What do you mean 'easy enough'."

The Dodge glared back, "You took my boy away from me," he moved his eyes at the van, "And you tried kill me with that gun." He blinked slowly, his ring never leaving his eyes as he stared down the mindless pair. "Do you _really_ want to test me?"

Both of the victims shook their heads violently, the father huffed, "Didn't think so."

"Now," Sheriff took the floor, "like it or not, we need your help. We want you to tell us where Alice is?"

Scott huffed, "who's she?"

The missed colored eyes could have burned a hole through titanium, but instead focused on Scott's sarcasm "You know damn well where she is! Now tell Him!!" His temper reached boiling point.

Scott swallowed again, "Oh, _that _Alice" he spoke nervously, "Um… Chuck, w-where was she again?"

Chuck stumbled over his words, "W-W-Well, she was brought in a day or two ago. A-A-And Jack wanted to put her in a special room, 'cause of her… A-Ah gift. And…"

Sheriff sighed in frustration, "I will say this nicely for the last time, Where-Is- She?"

Chuck's trembling worsened, "I-I-I only know so much! I brought her to the-the-the storage room thing; I don't know what it's called!"

Sheriff raised a frame, "And where is that?"

Scott butted in, "Down the hall, take a right and it's the second door on the left."

The Dodge huffed, "Now, was that so hard?"

Sheriff smiled, "Thank you boys, you were both a big help."

The two victims glanced at each other and then back at the two cars that were holding them in their place. The situation didn't change…

Chuck cleared his throat, "We gave you want you wanted."

Sheriff nodded.

"Then…"Chuck continued, "We can go free… right?"

Sheriff shrugged, "I don't know… what do you think Aero?"

Aero smiled his bi-colored eyes rippled, "Oh, I have an idea…"

#####

The winds whipped through the dry abandoned desert as the lonely par of minions magically appeared in the heat of it.

Chuck looked to the left, then to the right, then back at Scott. Nothing, no civilization, no plants, no telephones…nothing… they were stranded in a hot, dry, desert.

Chuck swallowed and Scott looked around there sandy surrounding… "Scott, we should of became back up dancers instead."

####

Aero's golden ring slowly disappeared back to the Ice and brown colors, as he let out a breath. "Well, that was fun while it lasted."

Sheriff chuckled, "where did you send them?"

Aero smiled widely as his normal calm and collected self started to show again, "Africa."

Sheriff chuckled, "Well, they'll have a nice color when they come back."

Aero shrugged, "Just next time we do the 'good cop, bad cop' bit, you're the bad cop. I felt like I was starting to sound like Jack."

Sheriff smiled crookedly as he turned toward the door on the other side of warehouse, "Hey, you guys can come out now."

Doc was the first to poke his fender out, double checking the surroundings before exposing the others. "What did you get out of them?" Doc finally spoke as he rolled over to the pair.

"Well," Aero answered first, "we're not sure if anything that they said was true or not. But whatever the case may be, we're going to follow by it."

Sheriff nodded, "They were telling the truth. My gut has never let me down before."

Doc nodded once as he motioned for the others to come meet him. Quinn popped his head out of the doorway along with Kendal glued to his side.

"Which way?" Quinn asked to no one in particular as he helped Kendal a crossed the floor.

Doc focused his eyes on Kendal rolling with full assistance towards the group. He swallowed hard, she wasn't reacting the way he hoped she would.

"He said it was down the hall, take a right… and the second door on the left? Yes that sounds about right." Sheriff answered Quinn's question.

Aero nodded in agreement with Sheriff's state of fact, "We need to get moving soon. We don't want to wait around her for the reinforcements to stir things up again."

Kendal's frame was slipping from Quinn's as she hit the floor, making everyone jump.

Doc rushed over to Kendal and lifted her other side, "Don't worry Quinn I'll take it from here."

Quinn raised a frame, "Are you sure you don't want my help?"

Doc nodded once, "It's alright. I got it. I'm sure your father needs you."

Quinn looked at Doc unsurely. Doc eyes flashed purple at him, "Quinn you have nothing to worry about." he said with his gravel voice of his, this time Quinn felt more reassured by not only Doc, but by his eyes.

'_Something is making his eyes change purple…' _he thought to himself, _'his eye's flashed before when he was talking about…what's her face… Kristen? Christine? Close enough… but I still want to know how that purple…'_

"Quinn!" his father called to him, making him snap his attention away from his thoughts. _'another time then…'_ he thought as he left the two be.

"Are you alright?" Doc asked with concern in his voice as he helped her rise back on her tires again.

Kendal nodded slowly, "I may be able to heal, but healed doesn't mean healthy." She leaned on him heavily, "I can't remember the last time I ate…"

Doc adjusted himself to the new found weight, "It's alright. I've got ya."

Kendal smiled weakly as they rolled, faster than before over to the small group. "Lead the way Sheriff" Doc called to him, "We've wasted enough time as it is. We need to keep going if we're going to get to Alice in time."

"Alright you heard him, let's get moving!" Sheriff took off down the hall leading the way as the others closely followed.

It was weird, what a huge difference this section of the ware house is compared to the prison that they stayed in. The hallways were brightly lit that reflected off the well kept polished tile. It was almost disturbing, civilization only a door way away…

Sheriff stopped and set his directional on, reminding everyone to take a left.

The floors were tiled and polished to perfection, not a single stain or scratch on the floor. Heck, if you took the time to sit there and look at it, you would probably see your own reflection. The light's weren't free hanging light bulbs either, they were just the basic florescent lights that you see at an office or a school… if you took one look down this hallway, you wouldn't think it belonged to a mad, paranoid, sadistic, sick-o.

Sheriff slowed down to a stop in front of a big metal door, almost like the ones you see on the old style 'walk-in' fridges. The big heavy metal door seemed to radiate fear amongst the group, almost saying _'go back'_.

Aero pulled his son closer to him, "Quinn, promise me something. If something happens in there, I want you to get out of here as fast as you can. Do you understand? Do not stop for _anything_!"

Quinn shook his head, "Dad, I can't-"

Aero concerned eyes made Quinn stop. "Do you?" that was unlike his father, he seemed almost desperate to make him listen to him.

Quinn felt his eyes dart from side to side, trying to read his father's strange features. "Yes."

Aero squeezed his son harder, "I can't stand the thought of losing you again."

Quinn felt his heart drop... what went through his head all this time? His father was a strong man, it seemed like nothing could ever break him. Not even a semi truck, fully loaded, smashing his side. He always pictured that his father would be the type of guy to get up and brush off the dust and say, "Well, that was unexpected." And go see if the semi was alright.

But this… bothered him. It was almost like his father was mentally tortured over his son being kidnapped. Not sure if he was dead or alive… and Quinn thought that losing his dad was hard…

Quinn's lip quivered, "I promise."

Doc finally caught up with the rest of the group as he rested Kendal down, "I think you should wait out here."

Kendal shook her head, "No, I'm going in."

Doc sighed in frustration, "Listen, you can barely go to place to place. If you go in-"

Kendal's Midnight blue eyes were hard, "Doc, my daughter is in there. If you won't let me go, I have no problem fighting you."

Doc lost his breath, almost like he got punched in the gut. A car that saved his life… was willing to take it back.

Kendal nodded confidently, "I have nothing to lose." As she rose on her own shaking tires and started rolling over to the big door.

That is, until Doc cut her off, "Maybe you don't have anything to lose, but your daughter will." He pointed to the red charger that was still embraced by the silver Dodge dart, "And what about Quinn? You've treated him like a son all this time. Don't you think that your death would affect them?"

Kendal's hard eyes softened a touch, "Doc, I can heal my-"

Doc shook his head, "Kendal, look at you. Your weak and mal nourished. What makes you think that you can heal yourself fast enough?"

Kendal opened her mouth to speak… but couldn't. Her eyes seemed almost defeated as they looked to the side.

Doc rested a tire on the one side of her face, making her look into his eyes, "Listen I know that your gift is powerful, but it has to have limitations. You shouldn't go in there, for your daughter's sake."

Kendal's eyes quivered, "Hudson, she is my daughter… I just want to see her, even if it is for the last time."

Doc looked deep into her eyes, "Kendal…"

"I don't care what the cost is, I want to see Alice." Kendal cracked a very weak smile, "I'm a very stubborn woman Hudson."

Doc forced a small smile himself, "There is no way of stopping you is there."

Kendal shook her head, "Nope."

Doc grunted in frustration, "Then at least let me go in before you."

Kendal blinked approvingly, "I guess that's alright."

Doc shook his head, "You are a stubborn woman."

"Doc!" Sheriff called from the other side of the room, rolling over to the two, "this is what I was thinking, I will open the door, Aero and Quinn will go in first with me behind them, and then you will soon follow."

Kendal raised a frame, "And what about me?"

Sheriff shrugged, "well, I was actually thinking that maybe it was best to-"

"Sheriff, don't even try." Kendal stated as she pointed at Doc, "He already tried."

Sheriff swallowed, "Well, all rightly then. I guess that will change things…"

Kendal raised her frame even higher, along with her voice, "What do you mean, _'changes things'_?"

Sheriff shrugged, his tires wide, giving an innocent appearance. "I was-"

Doc sighed, "Sheriff, open the door."

Sheriff nodded, "Right."

He quickly rolled over to the door and grabbed the overly dramatic large handle.

Doc shook his head; Sheriff didn't like being questioned by a 'stubborn' woman.

Sheriff looked around him, "is everyone ready?"

Everyone nodded, giving Sheriff the extra motivation to open the door, to see what lies ahead… to see if Alice made it.

"Alright," Sheriff sighed, his voice low and only to himself, "three… two… one…" He nodded "Go!" He quickly swung open the well oiled door as the convoy quickly flowed in.

Doc waited for his turn to rush in, once Sheriff darted in, he took off in after him.

A huge room, bigger than the prison and all the hallways combined, was poorly lit with green lights that seemed to come out of the support beams. The size, it was, in short a dark arena.

Tubes and glass wear sat on top of a metal table like a mad scientist would; plants lightly draped the remaining space of the working table. Behind the table… there was, or appeared to be beakers full of oil… not the type you drink…

Doc swallowed hard, he prayed that _that _wasn't Alice's…

That's when he perked his head up, where was Alice? She was supposed to be in here.

Doc looked over at Sheriff, "Sheriff, are you sure they were telling the truth?"

Sheriff looked back at Doc, "My gut never fails Doc. She has to be in here somewhere."

Kendal moved closer to Doc, a little creped out, "Maybe she's hiding?" she stated with some hope in her voice.

Doc thought about that for a second… maybe she did.

Something scrapped quickly at his side, making him look back a Kendal.

She wasn't there…

His eyes widened, "Kendal?"

"Oh don't worry huddy, I got her."

Doc's heart stopped, as he caught his breath in his throat. He slowly turned towards the front of him… and he swore he was dreaming.

There Jack stood facing the group, holding Kendal violently by her side. But that wasn't the part that he thought he was dreaming…

His eyes, they weren't that death looking green anymore… they were red…and blue…there was no green…

"What…What is-"

"Wrong with my eyes?" Jack said with pure enjoyment. "There is nothing wrong with my eyes. I'm just-"

He paused as his eyes seemed to zone out on Doc, then he laughed, "Oh Doc, your already figuring it out, your just missing the big picture here." He smiled viciously, "Come on, Your smart. Think, Why do I have rings?"

Doc took his time thinking, red and blue rings… Jack chuckled, "I think we've stated this before. Come on, Huddy! Why haven't you asked the one question that keeps spinning in your head! Why can I read your mind!"

Jack flashed into a blur that stopped beside Doc, "Why can I go so fast?" Jack whispered into his side making Hudson's nerves stand on end. Jack blurred back to where he was, grabbing Kendal's side in a violent grip, making her wince. "WHY- AM I- SUPERIOR!?!"

Doc's eyes blinked, this was rather annoying, but Jack was right, he was so close…

Jack's eyes lit up, "This is familiar to you!!! Why am I like this!!"

It hit him…Doc's eyes widened, as he looked up at the monster, "You sick bas-"

"Huddy, keep it clean. There's a young women here." Jack cackled to the world, sending the echo bouncing around the arena, and smashing Doc's level headedness.

Sheriff looked at Doc, "Doc what caused him too-"

"Yes! Doc, why don't you share to everyone your findings!" Jack toyed with him.

Doc gridded his teeth, "You killed your children… to take their gifts…"

Jack smile was nauseating, "And go ahead ask that one question that's bothering you the most."

Doc swallowed, "I don't know how you got the powers…"

Jake chuckled, "Well, actually Doc I just figured it out. Apparently how the ring works is that the gifted… child in this case, releases a type of "hormone" that only they posses. This "hormone" can transform their oil into a more powerful mutant form. Now since a gifted car can control the hormone by either removing it or adding it, someone like me can't remove it. Once it's in me, the ring will start active."

Jack paused as he smiled, "So how did I get my children's gifts? Doc?"

Doc snarled as he curled his lip in disgust, "You sick twisted bas-"

Jack laughed, "Yes!! I _DRANK_ their oil! A small price I have to pay for this magnificent power!"

Doc looked deeper into his crooked eyes, red… blue… no jade green…

He felt his body relax slightly, at least he didn't get to Alice yet.

That thought trigger Jack's mind. "What? What does she have Doc?"

Doc cursed at himself… trying to think of something…

Jack's temper raised, "Tell me Doc, what gift does she have."

Doc thought of anything and everything, from the crazy sick-o in front of him, to Kendal, to sheriff, to racing memories…

Jack shoved Kendal out of his way, making her smash against the wall, blood oozed down her hood…

"Now, Doc I will say one last time, what Does She HAVE!?!"

"Leave-Them- Alone."

Everyone froze as they looked around Jack. Jack spun so fast, it almost looked as though he was already facing in that direction. There stood a strong, livid, Alice with here jade green ring strong and vibrant.

He smiled, "You still have that plate in you. I can feel it…" Jack smile widen, "You fight me. You'll die."

Alice smiled crookedly, "If I can bring you to hell personally, it would be worth it."

**Fight! Fight! Fight! Lol… more suspense.**


	14. Never Test Fate

***bows* it was an honor for everyone to read my first true story. *whispers*hey, what about life rings take 2? ;)**

'_**Cars'**_**=Pixar**

**Now… the fight continues….**

**Life Rings**

**Chapter 14: **** Never test Fate.**

Alice stood tall and strong, her ring shined brighter than anyone had ever seen before, no fear was present in her eyes, only determination. "What are you waiting for?" She raised her voice to her father, Jack, "Are you the type of man that's all bark and no bite? Come on Jack! Fight like a man!"

Jack snapped his head back as his lip curled into a hiss. "My have you changed Alice." He snarled, "But you should know better than to piss off your own father!"

Alice felt her anger boil over, "What kind of a father are you Jack?!" She felt herself snarl back, "A father wouldn't kill his own children! A Father would heal your wounds, not afflict them! A father…" She caught her breath as she looked back at Doc… "A father loves you, a father protects you, a father would do whatever he can to make you stop hurting, and will do whatever he can to save your life." Doc's eyes quivered back and forth as his lip trembled slightly. 'Don't do this' he mouthed the silent words to her.

She swallowed her own set of tears back as she darted her eyes away from Doc's. She couldn't look at him… She had to stay strong for this… or at least look like it. Her heart was breaking along with her engine slowly being sliced by a death plate… She didn't have much time.

"Jack! Come on! Fight me like the Sadist you are!" She raised her voice, trying to provoke him to fight.

But Jack paused and froze under pressure, which Alice didn't expect from him. His eyes were wide as he looked at the ground… was he really a coward?

"You Coward!" She shouted, "What happened to the strong and mighty? The 'superior' being? Come Get me Jack, I know you-" She coughed violently, making her choke on her words. Jack's grill curved …

"By the looks of things I don't need to do a thing." Jack smiled as he rolled over to Alice.

Alice gritted her teeth, trying to suppress the pain. She opened her forced, closed eyes from her coughing as saw the concrete floor glitter with oil… she was losing too much time.

"You want me to fight?" Jack whispered from her side, "When you're already slipping away from underneath my tire?"

Alice swallowed the horrible metallic taste down and cracked a smile, "Why? Afraid you'll lose?"

Jack laughed, "No, quite the opposite my dear."

In a flash, Alice felt a force crushing her door in and sending her a crossed the room. Tires locked on impact as they squealed, leaving thick, heavy tread smoking from the heat of the friction. Alice grunted as she rose on her tires again. A smile cracked on her grill.

"Shut up!" Jack yelled at Alice's inaudible thoughts, charging at Alice again at full speed. You didn't see him, or hear the roaring of his powerful engine, all you saw was Alice's body flying a crossed the room. Her body smashing into one of the light tubes that came out of the support beams, and finally ended on the floor under the raining sparks, in a crumpled heap.

Jack came back into view, painting heavily and his eyes rippled with energy, his tires shaking. This was hard for his body to adjust too. He wasn't made to run at such high speeds, or read minds. His body started to tremble with this newly found stress, he wasn't sure how long he could use the gift until his body would finally give out.

Then his thoughts snapped on his attention on that sound… that _awful_ sound!

His eyes widened as he turned slowly, trying to find the source of that _horrid _sound…

Among the shower of sparks, a disfigured, unpainted frame rolled out…laughing.

"stop it!" He said as that laughter grew in strength.

"SHUT UP!" He screeched as he took off after her, blurring in with the background, smashing Alice multiple times. Sending the crippled body to the other side of the room…laughing.

"STOP IT!" he shouted at the laughing frame.

She got up, laughing… her oil oozed out from her lips, the frame disfigured and broken…but she got up…laughing…

"What the hell is so funny?!?" He demanded for an answer for his daughter's full hearted laugh.

She coughed oil from her airways as she stumbled, getting a little woozy. "That you actually believed that this is all I'm going to do. Stand here and take your beatings?"

She laughed a single laugh, "Oh Jack, if only you knew." She smiled as her ring traced a circle of light around her eyes. And like that, she disappeared.

Jack gasped, "what…WHAT!?!?!"

"You don't like it when things don't go your way, do you?" a voice brushed up against his side.

"What?" He flashed around him in a panic…nothing.

"oh come on Jack, fight!" the voice taunted him, this time coming from behind him.

He whirled around again….nothing.

"Who's the coward now?" Jack taunted back, smiling at his own little plot.

"Oh no Jack… Quite the opposite."

Jack panted as he spun around, again… and again…. Nothing… "Well?!?" He demanded, "Where's the-" He stopped, his body trembled as it suddenly slammed up against the wall. Then rose up and smashed against an invisible force that didn't show mercy. Jack mangled frame slowly fell to the ground… but never hit it. That force kept smashing into his frame, until Jack finally hit the floor. The force left the strongest blow for last… in that final blow you heard the spin chilling sound of snapping parts as Jacks body flew to the darkest side of the room with a sickening thud.

Alice appeared out of thin air and smashed to the ground, a shout of pure pain rippled through her oil filled lungs as she landed too with a sickening thud. Oil pooling under her frame…

"Alice!" Doc and Sheriff cried simultaneously, as they both ran with pure adrenaline coursing threw them.

The disfigured body wheezed it's shaky breaths... "Doc… get mom and get..out." She coughed the oil out of her airways, "I can't hang on much longer…"

Doc shook he head violently, "No. No I can't do that Alice…W-Why didn't you listen to me?"

She cracked an eye lid, "Doc… it's hard to…explain… " She took a ragged breath, "I did it to protect everyone…'cause…" she swallowed, "Everyone here is what I have for family… I will die to protect you…" She smiled, " but promise me one thing Doc…"

Hudson felt his heart dying as well, "Anything Alice…."

She took a ragged breath, "Take good care of my mom… for me. Tell her those stories that you…told me when I was in the clinic. She'd like those…"

Doc nodded, his face was stone, but his eyes watered, "I swear on my life."

"this isn't over!" the dark figure appeared from the shadows, fully alive, and fully pissed. "I will kill you! if it's the last thing I'll ever do!" He quickly blurred into a straight away towards the huddled group. It was coming too quick for anyone to react, Doc did the best thing he could do, closed his eyes and braced for impact… he was surprised when it came… it didn't hurt. It was a little bump actually which caused something to splatter on his hood… and a blood curdling scream was heard behind him.

His eyes shot open to oil spotted his hide and Kendal taking the blow. The wounded from before oozed just enough that when she was hit… it splattered anyone near her…

Alice screamed in agony as she shut her eyes… the oil from her mother must of sprayed not only on her hood, but into her eyes… making them burn… making her blind.

"I can't take this!" Doc shouted to the world, his confidence shooting up into the sky. "Back off Jack!"

Jake smiled as insanity took over for his common sense, his body was split and broken, as oil pooled from where he stood, he was finished, but Jack couldn't see that."You'll all die!" He said as he charged after the group, Kendal would receive the majority of the blow. Doc was livid…

"Enough!" He shouted as he felt as though adrenaline pumped through his system as he held Kendal, trying to take most of the impact. His eyes burned as he zone his eyes at Jack charging after them, Jack was closing in the gap that separated the two…

Then the oddest thing happened. Jack couldn't have hit them any more dead on, his crushed body would of easily taken Hudson's fender off … but Jack was the only one that was damaged… his frame ricocheted a crossed the room one more, leaving a trail of oil and scuff marks to his… broken body.

Doc looked over at Kendal, her wound was starting to heal… but that was the only mark that was on her features… nothing else.

Quinn took off towards Doc, "Doc! Are you-"Quinn's eyes widened "Doc… y-your eyes!"

Doc snapped his head back, "What are you talking about?"

Quinn blinked a few times, "Your eyes are purple!"

Doc shook his head, "My eyes have always been a crystal blue."

Aero nodded, " Yes but Doc, you are gifted… with the gift of protection."

"I have protection as a gift…" Doc whispered as he felt his heart sank… he looked back at the crumpled heap that lay in its own oil. His eyes sparked with tears, "and it came too late …" the burning that he felt in his eyes before disappeared, as the only burning he felt was from the tears threatening to spill over his lids.

Doc rolled over closer at the non moving Alice, as his heart shattered. "Alice?" he asked weakly as he rested his tire on her frame… her cold, still frame. Nothing moved, not a single sign of life.

"Alice…" He clenched his teeth to keep his composure, "You did good kiddo… and I'm proud."

He took a deep breath and sigh a trembling one. His emotions were heavy to bear as he kept them bottled up, "I don't care what your father said… You are an amazing daughter…" he felt his frame shake… "I –I…" He couldn't form the words; his mouth just wouldn't Core operate. He could only hope that the heaven can hear him inaudible words…_'I love you…'_

A single sob was heard from Doc's said as he turned to see Kendal's strong face starting to break down before him. Doc raise a tire towards her, "Come here."

Kendal buried her face into Doc's frame, as her sobs were muffled by the cobalt paint that covered his hide. He closed his eyes, hiding his own tears. He would have been able to handle the grief just fine… but the sound of pure agony from a loving mother struck his emotions even harder.

"S-She's gone… isn't she?" Quinn pulled up alongside the crumpled heap, as the tears already traced trails down his hood.

No one answered…

Sheriff gritted his teeth as he glanced over at Jack's body… broken in two … "Alice got her wish," he whispered to himself, "He won't harm anyone any longer.

He rolled over to Aero and gave him a weak nod.

"I think it's time to bring Alice home."

Aero sighed a painful one as he let the rings awaken in his eyes, " let's bring her home…"

#######

*_she felt like she was flying. Not like Jack clashing with her side kind of flying, but she felt… free. She liked this new feeling of life without pain._

_She opened her eyes to a blinding light, causing her undeveloped eyes to slam shut again… nothing hurt, not even her eyes burned from the tremendous bright light… __**'wait…'**_

_She opened her eyes again, this time prepared for the bright light. The symbolic pearly gates glisten with pure righteousness… She swallowed "heaven…"_

_A 2 tone blue thunderbird appeared out of nowhere behind the pearly gates, "Alice?" She asked as she reached up on the gates. "Alice! Oh God Alice!" she screamed as she reached up to get a better look at the Mustang._

_Alice blinked slowly, "Rachelle?"_

_The sister behind the gates smiled, "Alice… Jack finally got to you too." her smile became sheepish._

_Alice shrugged a sly smile came a crossed her face, "I guess you can say that."_

_Rachelle raised a frame, "Oh if only I still had my gift, I would totally be raiding that mind of yours!" she smiled a very warm sister like smile. "I missed you sis. But I wish that I wouldn't have meet you for another… well… a while."_

_Alice shrugged again, "It's alright, I …ah… died… of good causes."_

_Rachelle nodded, "As he predicted. You're quite the hero, or so I hear."_

_She raised an eye frame; "You've heard of me from 'him' like…"Alice looked up to the skies, then back at her sister._

_Rachelle laughed, "Alice, God is over here." she pointed with her tire behind her. "You're in heaven."_

_She felt something in her chest... her heart would have stopped for a second at the sound of that fact… if she was still alive. Now it was just… hollowness…_

_Rachelle chuckled, "It's hard at first, but you can start a life here. And I'm sure God would love to see you! He's quite the artist; you should see some of his art. It's quite breath taking."_

_A red roadster custom with black sides appeared alongside Rachelle, "Hey Elle, We need you back at-"_

_He paused as his hazel eyes widened, "Alice! Oh Al! How ya doing!" He paused, reconsidering that statement, "Ahh… well What's happening?... It's good to see-…" He chuckled, "Hi!"_

_Alice chuckled, "Zeb, it's been a while."_

_Zeb nodded, "it has, but now since we're dead, we got like an eternity up here to catch up on good times."_

_Rachelle shook her head, "this is why he is not on the welcome committee." _

_Alice chuckled, "I've missed you guys."_

_Zeb smiled, "Well, what are you waiting for?" the Gates opened slowly towards Alice, as heaven welcomed her in with open arms…_

_Rachelle held a tire out, "Come on Alice, time to go home."_

_Alice froze…__**'this is it.'**_

_Zeb nodded, "Come on! It's Amazing! You'll love it!"_

_Alice felt her lip quiver, "Bye mom…bye Radiator Springs…" Her eyes pooled with tears… "Bye Doc… thanks for everything."_

_She looked up, her family sat before her, waiting… She swallowed as a single tear fell off of her frame. "Good bye…" the tear fell to the cloudy floor… but that's not where the life of her tear stopped._

_####_

Clouds are not solid, so when a droplet falls on to them… they fall through.

A droplet of sadness fell from the sky as it traveled down towards a little group of cars, taking their vow of silence for the death in the middle of the group.

There, that little single tear from the heavens, finally ended on the roof of a single cobalt blue car. He eyes shot open at the sudden coldness hit his roof. "Alice…" he breathed as he looked over at the crumpled heap. The oil stopped draining out of the poor lifeless victim as it gave it last breath…

Sheriff rolled over with Aero, "Doc, I think it's time to go home."

Doc couldn't stop staring at her, "Hang on, I want to do something first. Just, for a Doctor's sake."

Doc rolled closer to the body as he laid a tire on her side as he started timing for a minute.**1…2…3…4**

He closed his eyes, knowing that this was pointless. By looking at her horrible disfigured frame and the pool of oil… she was gone.

**35…36…37…38…**

####

_Alice froze at the gate… something on her side burned... almost like someone was holding a torch to her side._

_Rachelle raise a eye frame, "what's wrong Alice?"_

_Alice swallowed as she looked over at her perfect painted side, "my side is burning."_

_Rachelle nodded, "That just means someone is touching your body, don't worry it'll go away."_

_Alice raised a frame, "I thought you're not supposed to feel pain when you're dead?"_

_Rachelle shrugged, "I don't know, we could ask-"_

_Zeb seemed to cower, "Um… Elle he's kind of right there."_

_Behind them came a pure white figure that radiated that brilliant light. You couldn't tell exactly what he was… the light was just so… bright._

"_Alice" His deep voice was kind and wise as he seemed to chuckle at Alice's expression. " I've seen a lot of potential in your bright mind."_

_Alice bowed her thanks, "Thank you sir."_

"_However, it seems you've come here later than what I had predicted."_

_Alice raised her head slightly, "Late? I do not understand."_

_He chuckled, "Your gift is a wondrous thing, just barely keeping yourself alive until Hudson Hornet saved your life."_

_She blinked in surprise, "I was suppose to die that night?"_

"_My child," a smile was present in his voice, "the future is not quite set in stone. And the wondrous gifts that you have make the future even more uncertain. You, and your family… mostly your mother."_

_Alice blinked, "My mother?"_

_A loud thump rippled through her body, making pain shake through her frame. She fell on her tires as the pain didn't subside. _

####

Doc's eyes shot open as he stopped at **57**… it was faint, but he swore something moved. Doc swallowed as he felt his own heart ripple with hope. He started counting again, just to be sure… **1…2…3…4…5…**

####

_Alice looked up, "Lord what is happening?! That's causing so much pain!"_

_God seemed to bow, "Thank your mother for me."_

_Alice looked up at him, fear in her eyes, "Lord I-"_

_Another horrible thud in her frame… actually under her hood… it was so powerful it*__**thud***_

_Her whole frame collapsed onto the ground, as her eyes started fussing out the figures. *__**Thud***_

_The pain was… too much… __***thud***_

####

He stopped, he felt them…3 more… he swore on everything that he was raised by.

Doc swallowed his eyes wide. "I don't believe it."

"Don't believe what?" Kendal's voice was tired sounding as she rolled up by his side.

Doc grabbed her tire as held her tire against the same spot he had felt it, he started mentally counting again. 

* * *

Kendal's eyes widened, "that's impossible. How can that be possible?"

Doc eyes lit up. He wasn't dreaming it at all. "Let me see again." He replaced her tire with his, the rhythm was weak, but there... ***thud*…*thud*..*thud*** .***Thud*Thud*Thud*.**

"She's alive." Doc spoke with clarity as his adrenaline started pumping. "She's alive!" His doctor instincts started kicking in as he got everyone to give him space. He opened her mouth to remove anything that might cause her to stop breathing, reshaped some broken parts so that it wouldn't affect her breathing. Nothing was bleeding so that was one thing that was marked off of his list. He went to check her pupils… when her eye lids fluttered open.

Doc smiled widely as she coughed out what ever irritated her airways as her eyes opened. Her normal Violate eyes… had a new ring… a white ring… her mother's ring.

Alice cracked a smile, "Mom…God says thanks…" she whispered out as her snow rings looked back at Doc, "Doc… I have to thank you too…"

Doc smiled as his eyes pooled with tears, "Why?" He asked as he was over whelmed with emotion.

Alice closed her eyes, "Both of you made God confused."

Doc chuckled, which at this point almost sounded like crying as he couldn't believe his eyes, "Welcome back Alice…" He swallowed hard as tears streamed down his features… "Welcome back…"

**This had SOOO many ways to end it! I had to change this soo many times! *sigh***


	15. What Feedom Feels Like

**I can't believe it… This story was the reason why I joined Fan fiction and now…it's over. I had this story for about three years and now it's finally complete… that's a deep moment in my book…**

**FYI: if you are reading this and HAVE NOT REVIEWED PLEASE DO!!!! It won't hurt you and it helps me write more stories! Please Reviews are very important to me!**

**Another FYI: Any of you that are fans of 'Life Rings' There WILL be another one! Just keep your eye out.**

**Life Rings:**

**Chapter 15: What freedom feels like.**

Sheriff sighed as he finished the last engraving on the stone. "Well I think that should do it." He said as he rolled back from the two head stones that were placed in the shade underneath a willow tree. "I haven't had to use these tools in a long time," Sheriff said as he put away the chisel and hammer away in his own little tool box. "Let's just hope we don't need to use it for quite some time."

Kendal stood in silence as she bowed her head slowly at sheriff in thanks.

Sheriff threw on a soft smile as he came up and gave her a light embrace, "take your time." He said softly as he left her be beneath the old willow tree. The wood shaving trail that was put in recently led from the road to the little memorial place in the middle of the woods.

Sheriff rolled up to the curb of the road and for a second he thought there was an emergency by the presents of the small group in front of him. But Sheriff saw who was there, and thought otherwise.

"How she doing?" Hudson asked Sheriff with a very even tone. Ever since that night, Kendal hasn't said a word since they got back. Anyone that knew her, was concerned, thus explained the group.

"Well, she didn't say anything, but she was grateful for the head stones." Sheriff spoke with a bit of disappointment in his voice. "I'm sure she'll turn around."

Sheriff patted Doc's side in farewell as he head towards the town, leaving him, Quinn, Aero to sit and wait. The breeze was light as it brushed some of the petals from the nearby blossom trees, over top of the group.

"Has anyone thought about asking her what's wrong?" Quinn thought openly towards the group.

No one said a word, which made Quinn's self esteem fall down the drain, causing some of his dark red paint to brighten. "Well, I mean…" he filled in, trying not to feel as embarrassed as he felt. "Isn't that what your suppose to do?...and stuff…"

His father's face curved up in a smile, "Quinn you haven't changed." He said as he chuckled lightly, "You still can't stand the silence."

Quinn smiled back, "Well, try to live in Jack's place for over a year and let's see how you like the silence."

Aero shook his head playfully, his Ice and Brown eyes twinkled with amusement as he playfully nudged Quinn with a tire, getting a wide grin from his son.

Doc was oblivious to this father/son bonding that was happening behind him… Quinn was right… you should ask, but no one had the guts to ask.

Doc rose on his tires as he huffed a breath before he made his decent down the wood shaving trail.

Both Aero and Quinn stopped playing around as they watched Doc drive off without them.

"Mr. Hudson?" Aero called to the Hudson that was slowly disappearing in with the background.

"Didn't she want to be alone?" Quinn asked his father.

Aero shrugged, "I guess we'll wait and see."

######

Doc took his time going down the little slope since there was no need to rush, when the willow tree caught his attention, enough to slow right down to a crawl.

There the 300 custom sat with her magnificent, the water at twilight, dark blue paint stood out from the green lush around her. The two freshly engraved headstones faced Kendal with not grief, but the memories that her mother proudly shared with her kids.

The grave stones read in Sheriff's fancy writing that Doc never knew he was capable of:

'_Rachelle Maria Linkheart._

_A daughter with the gift of the mind, a daughter to never forget,_

_Her short life will touch the hearts of many, and complete the lives of few._

_May God rest her soul.'_

'_Zebadiya Jacob Linkheart._

_A son with the gift of speed, a son that you couldn't always see, but is always there,_

_His short life will fill your heart with laughter, and make thrill seekers fall at his speed records._

_May God rest his soul, and let his spirit race with the wind.'_

Doc smiled weakly at the head stones, they were personalized to each of the children's tastes and interests. _'That was nice of Sheriff'_ Doc thought as he looked back over at Kendal, all alone as she stared at the two head stones.

Doc let out a breath as he quietly rubbed up along her side in a comforting gesture. Kendal was hesitant at first to the company, but quickly relaxed to the familiar face as she sighed.

"I thought you could use some company. " He said as he looked at the head stones along with Kendal.

Kendal leaned on him as her eyes began to burn. "They were my kids." She spoke for the first time in a while, "I wish they got the chance to see Radiator Springs. They would have liked it here."

Doc nodded as he brought her closer to his side, "I know Kendal, I know."

Her frame started to tremble, as she felt the tears run down her frame. "I'm just wishfully thinking, I guess. What's happened has happened, and there is no way of turning back."

Doc didn't say anything as he let her do the talking. Greif wasn't a fun thing to go through.

"But what bothers me the most isn't the past at all." She swallowed as she blinked away the tears, "I don't know what to do with myself. I don't know where to go, I don't know how to make sure Alice has a good life, I don't know-"

"Hey, wait a minute," Doc caught something in her venting that had to make him jump in, "who says you have to leave?"

Kendal took a break from her venting to gather her thoughts again, "I don't want to burden the town."

Doc shook his head, "No! not at all! You shouldn't be thinking like that!" He sighed an aggravated sigh, "Don't tell me Jack has drilled this into your head."

Kendal shrugged slightly, "Hudson… I've been in that cell for about 15 years. It does things to you."

Doc rolled away from Kendal, to face her dead on. "Kendal, look at me."

Kendal's midnight blue eyes lifted up to Doc's crystal. "You are one of the strongest women; I have ever met in my life."

Kendal's eyes quivered back a forth as Doc kept encouraging her, "But it kills me to watch you beat yourself up like that. I mean, how can you survive all those years and not have your spirits broken? You didn't break under pressure, and you would do anything to protect the ones you love."

Doc took a breather as Kendal just was shocked on what she was hearing. "You are a stubborn women," he said with a smile as Kendal chuckled, quoting her, "But even a stubborn women as yourself has to know when she is wrong."

Doc nodded, "You can stay."

Kendal raised a frame, "But Hudson, what can I possibly do here?"

Doc smiled, "That's the beauty of Radiator Springs. We'll find a life here for you and Alice and anyone that is willing to stay."

Kendal raised a frame in a playful way, "Are you done twisting my axel?"

Doc laughed, "Only until I get an answer."

"I don't know," She smiled warmly as she rolled a little closer to Doc, "Are you sure, I won't be a burden?"

Doc swallowed hard as he found himself clearing his throat, "Not a burden." He smiled; his eyes seemed to twinkle from the broken light peaking from the branches of the willow, "An addition."

Kendal midnight eyes seemed to see right through Doc's soul. Doc couldn't look away for a second, those mysterious eyes… danced in his… hypnotizing him, mesmerized him… it was, indescribable.

Kendal moved a little forward again causing Doc to notice the distance between him and Kendal.

Kendal chuckled at Doc's expression as she moved over to the side of him. Doc froze as Kendal kissed his fender lightly. A single chill ran through Doc's frame, making Kendal smile wide, "Thank you Hudson, for saving Alice's life."

She rolled back as she locked her eyes with Doc's, "You're a hero."

Doc shook the feeling out of his system as he heard the word _hero_. "A hero? I'm no hero, I just did what I was supposed to do."

Kendal nodded, "Yes you are. Like it or not, you've changed lives on top of saving them. That my dear, is a hero into my book."

Doc felt himself give out a thoughtful "huh" as Kendal nodded again in approval.

"I'm glad I'm important." Doc said with a crooked smile

"You are Hudson."

Doc paused as he raised a frame, "You know everyone here calls me 'Doc'…except you?" Doc tilted his head slightly as that crooked smile grew in size, "Why is that?"

Kendal shrugged as she started moving away from her past as she faced her future. Doc caught up rather quickly, "You didn't answer my question. Come to think of it, you didn't answer any of my questions."

Kendal glanced at Doc, smiled a teasing smile, and moved a little faster away from Doc.

Doc blinked in surprise at her reaction as he went to catch up to her… but with no success. Every time he speeds up, she'd speeds up as well. Doc tried gunning it just enough to catch up… but boy… she looks faster than what she really was… she really was a custom!

Doc smiled as a plan popped in his head. His old racer instincts were kicking in; making his complex mind think faster… he was planning for something a little… different then what she expected.

Kendal laughed. This new found freedom; being able to make her own choice… she liked it. She couldn't pass up the offer to mess with the Hudson's mind.

She glanced at her side view mirror and felt her observant mind noticing that something was missing agonist the trees and wood chips. She felt her RPMs drop as she just let her body slow down naturally, was she being too childish?

Lightly pressing on the brake, she stopped feeling her face getting feverish. What a good impression to leave, just got out of prison and here she was, racing around playing "chase". She shook her head, _'What am I doing?'_ She thought to herself as she turned around, back towards her children's memory stones. _'They haven't even met me yet and here I am, jumping around like some sort of new born with their first tires.'_ She chuckled very lightly, _'folk around here are going to think that I'm a nut case.'_

She looked up to see the same old willow tree with the two head stones underneath it. Back where she started… but no sign of Doc.

"Hudson?" She called to the wind, hoping the words will carry to him.

The wind lightly bushed her side with cherry blossoms petals as they went up and over her frame. The wind, the symbol of freedom greeted her into its home. She closed her eyes and smiled, she hasn't felt the wind in over 15 years… the feeling was incredible.

Something rubbed up bother of her sides, which her observant mind didn't make sense of it. The only other person that was here with her was Hudson… who was the other one.

She opened her eyes as she looked over at the familiar Hudson sitting on her left, grabbing her side. She smiled as she looked over at the other one… a cobalt blue Hudson was also grabbing her other side…wait.

There they were, two cobalt blue, 1951 Hudson Hornets leaning on her sides, "Now, let's try this again...." the one Hudson said on her left.

The one on the right nodded, "You didn't answer my question from before."

"All you did was run from the question." the left one put in as they started talking back and forth.

"Now, you know who I am."

"-and what I did back in the day."

"So what makes you think you can out run a Fabulous Hudson Hornet?"

She smiled, "I didn't think of that, all I was thinking was…" her smile widened, "I like the freedom. It makes me want to race."

Both chuckled at the same time, "Really," the one on the left said.

"I find that very interesting." The one on the right put in as they started talking back and forth again.

"You want to race us?"

"You'll get a race to remember."

"A light friendly race"

"Just up to the road"

"That's it"

"No tricks or anything."

She raised a frame, "No tricks? Oh yeah, having two Hornets is totally far."

Both laugh, "This is part of the plan." The left one cried.

"This is just a twist in the game."

"Your suppose to figure us out."

"Which one is Doc?" both said again.

"Let's raise the stakes," the right one started,"if you can figure out which one is the real Doc-"

"You can make the decision to stay, no if's, and's, or but's, and all questions will end."

"However, if you don't, you have to answer all questions and you must stay."

The one on the left smiled, "Now the question remains…"

"Can you catch up with us?" both simultaneously said as they took off.

She sighed as she didn't bother moving an inch, "I'm no fool. Quinn, you're on the right."

Both Hudson's stopped, as they turned to face Kendal. The one on the right formed back to the familiar Dark red charger. "How'd you know?" Quinn's ring rippled in his sugar brown eyes.

Kendal gave a weak smile, "I basically lived with you for over a year, I know you."

Her eyes meet those of Hudson's, "Which leaves you." Her heart felt broken as she watched the Hudson features sag in defeat…She started wishing she made the wrong decision.

Kendal gave a weak smile. "So that means I win. I won't have to answer your questions Hudson. And that also means… I have to leave."

"You don't have to leave, it's your choice." The Hudson said in pure emotion. "That's what's great about Radiator Springs. You will fit in well with us,"

Kendal huffed a sigh, "You said no if's, and's, or but's."

His expression lifted as a strong smile came a crossed his features, "Ah, but you see you have to win to get that end of the bargain."

Kendal raised a frame in confusion but before her question escaped her lips, it was answered. The Hudson morphed into none other than the silver Dodge Dart with the missed matched eyes.

Kendal's heart leaped, "So wait, how?" she turned to face Quinn's eyes, his ring just then faded. "Hey I couldn't pass up coping Doc again. So when he asked for two, I was all over it!"

Kendal looked at the two cars with a questioning look, "So…"

"Where is Doc?" a voice asked her question for her.

She leaped around to find the source of that voice, Hudson, the original copy, staring at her with those crystal blue eyes. "Well for you it's 'Hudson' anyway."

Kendal smiled weakly, "Why do you want me to stay so badly?"

Hudson shrugged, "As a Judge, I would say it would do our town good. As a Doctor I'd say it's best for your daughter. However, as a friend…"

He rolled over to her, "I would say because I want you too. Because I'm just as stubborn as you are."

He lifted his head up two the other pair now behind her, "You two as well, everyone is welcome here."

Quinn smiled widely as Aero's face fell, "I thank you for your offer. But I think we have to respectfully decline that offer. We have been away from home long enough"

Quinn looked up at Aero, then back at Doc with a sadden face.

Doc took note of Quinn's expression and blinked in understanding, "I understand. The doors are always open for you two."

Aero bowed in silence, "I'm glad you understand. It's been fun."

Kendal turned around, "You're leaving now?"

Aero nodded, "Sadly yes, but I will guarantee this will not be the last time you'll see us."

He bowed to both of them, "Good bye." His eyes allowed the golden ring take over his miss matched eyes as they rippled with energy. He grabbed his depressed son as Quinn said his farewells to the friends. He honestly never wanted to leave the small town, but his father was right… he missed his family. He felt himself sigh as he closed his eyes, warping from place to place wasn't pleasant to see, it actually made him a little nauseous if he was foolish to open his eyes. Then his heard a sound… of a distant powerful engine… racing down there way.

His eyes flashed opened as he saw a, fully painted, fully healed 1964 Mustang racing down the hill. Her fresh paint was beautiful against the sun. Everywhere the sun touch on her frame, the paint changed hue. From the richest of ocean greens, to the brightest of turquoises that you'll ever find in the sky, with a light thin deep blue strip down her side, Alice was racing to get to him.

"Al-!" He said before everything blurred into non existence.

"Quinn!" She shouted as she skidded to a stop right where they once stood. There were gone… Alice's frame shook from the sudden weakness from her as she felt her shocks almost give out of her "No…" She was too late…

Doc raised his head "Alice? What are you doing up? You should-"

Alice panted at the sudden sprint she did to get here, "I have glimpses of a section of time, past, present, future. When I had a dream that Quinn was leaving." She tried regaining her breath, "I tried my best to get to him before he left." Her body fell to the ground, "I didn't get to say goodbye."

Doc and Kendal rushed to Alice's side as they helped her up. "You shouldn't be pushing yourself, even though you can heal yourself that doesn't replace-"

Alice shook her head, "Not anymore. Weren't you listening to what Jack said? Because he didn't have a gift it mixed with his blood. Now Because I have a gift I can remove the hormone that causes our gifts." She rose shakily, "I'm healed and alive, but I'm not 100%. Kind of shaky actually."

She brushed them away, "But I'll live, you guys don't need to worry. And look, I'm painted!" She twisted to the side to show off her multi colored green/blue paint, with a dark blue strip from the front of her frame, as it thickened to the back. You could never question Ramone's work… it always fit perfectly.

"Yes and it looks very nice" Her mother came in as she examined her unique paint job, "Wow this is _really_ good, it's better than your original paint, wow you can't see any of your scars! How much did you pay for this?"

Alice shook her head, "I didn't. Ramone was dying to paint me ever since I first came to this town."

Kendal tilted her head, "Ramone? Who's that honey?"

Alice, "He's the paint artist in Radiator Spring, I'm sure he'll love to touch up your paint job. Maybe some new tires at Luigi's and maybe even stickers from Lizzy and surplus from Sarge. Mom, they have everything here. You'll love it! Come on I'll show you around, I'm sure Mater would love to have a tractor tipping buddy."

Kendal raised an eye frame, "Paint? Tires? Stickers and surplus?...Tractor tipping?" she chuckled, "It sounds like fun."

Alice smiled widely, "it is. And once we settle in, we can make our own lives here."

Kendal looked over at Doc as he shrugged, his body language was saying something like _'it's not my choice. '_

Kendal smiled, "So… where do we sleep?"

Doc smiled, "I think I know the right young lady to talk too."

####

The sun set over the horizon as the stars started drawing maps in the sky over top the grand V8 café. The whole town including the newest member of their 'Radiator Springs family' gathered together talking among themselves.

Alice smiled as the town accepted her mother with wide open arms… just like they did with her.

She was happy… but something felt missing.

She backed up out of her stall quietly and surprising to her, unnoticed… she smiled, she needed some alone time.

She rolled over to the clinic as she rolled over to the other side of the clinic. She knew she would have the privacy that she was looking for.

Alice sighed as she found herself looking up at the stars. The layers among layers of stars twinkled down onto her painted frame, oh the things that they have seen, the stories that they tell…

"Rachelle…Zeb… I'm sorry you guys didn't make it here. It's nice, there's a paint shop and a tire store. Amazing people here, you'd love them…" She looked away from the sky.

"God… I don't know what to do with myself. Why am I here?" She found herself smiling, as she looked back up at the sky, "You must get that a lot, but it's true. I started with nothing, and here is my chance to change it. I just don't want to mess it up…ya know?"

The stars twinkled back at her, almost like a sign that someone up there is listening. She smiled, "God, I do want to ask one thing. Protect my friends and family… including Quinn and his family where ever they may be." She looked away from the heavens…remembering…

_*" you're going to be okay." Quinn's down to earth voice talked to the half awake figure up on the lift._

"_I know," she rasped out weakly as she shifted up on the lift. Her body was healing but it was still broken in certain places. Doc felt that he shouldn't interrupt the healing process too much._

_Quinn felt himself shift his weight, "You gave us quite a scare back there."_

_She felt her grill tug out a smile. "I know." She said as a little shiver rippled through her frame._

_Quinn felt his eye frame raise in concern, "Are you cold?"_

_Alice smiled sheepishly, "A little…"_

_Quinn smiled weakly as he grabbed several blankets off of the top self and brought it over to the young girl on the lift._

"_This should keep you warm." He said as he took his time covering her healing frame with the thick, fleece blanks._

_Alice found herself smiling, "you didn't have to do that."_

_Quinn shrugged, "it's the least I can do for someone who saved my life."_

_Alice raised a frame, "I saved your life?"_

_Quinn shrugged again, "well, saved a part of me. If I was trapped in that hell one more year…" He seemed disturbed somehow. "I won't know what to do with myself."_

_He paused as he found himself smiling, "I've heard a lot about you. Your mother is one talkative lady, I can honestly say that."_

_Alice laughed a little as she felt pain go through her frame, "ow ow ow."_

_Quinn felt himself laughing with her, "maybe laughing isn't the greatest thing right now."_

_Alice smiled a little, "so much for 'laughter is the best medicine.'"_

_Quinn found himself chuckling. "Yeah right?"_

_Alice looked around the room, noticing the emptiness, "Quinn, did Doc put you on watch."_

_He shook his head, "No I offered. I wanted to see for myself if you were alright."_

_Alice felt her face get hot.__**' This was going to be an interesting night'**__ she thought as a yawn escaped through her beaten features._

_Quinn smiled, "Why don't you get some sleep. I'm sure you'll need it."_

_Alice smiled, "What about you?"_

_Quinn shrugged, "after the scare I went through… I don't think I can sleep."_

_She felt herself smile, talking with him made her forget about every bad thing that has happened in her life…forget about her healing broken body… forget about everything except talking to him…*_

Alice found herself sighing not in a dream like state, but in a depressed, broken hearted way. She had to admit, she missed her "watch guard" from that night... She was surprised that she found herself missing someone she barely knew but… she felt as though she lost an old friend.

She sighed, if only she saw that vision sooner… if only she was faster… she could have made it in time…

That's when she cursed at herself as she slapped her tire on the ground in frustration…time… she could of stopped time long enough to at least say goodbye to him. Why didn't she think of that!? He could have still been here if she had used her powers!

"Agh!" she shouted out her frustration, "How can I be so stupid." And just as she said that the only company that she had twinkled back at hear letting her know they were still listening. A shooting star smeared a crossed the sky. A gush of wind grazed Alice's side, making her shiver. "I wonder if Quinn is looking at the same stars."

"Well, that depends on which ones you're looking at."

Alice whipped around in a 180 as she heard a voice… that earthy voice that sent chills down her frame.

There stood a dark red charger, proud and amused at Alice's expression. His brown sugar eyes sparkled under the shining stars.

"Quinn!" she shouted as she raced over to embrace him causing Quinn to roll back from the impact. "I thought you'll never come back!"

Quinn smiled as he tightened his embrace, "That was my father's idea, but not mine. After a while I sat down with him and talking about living here and he agreed… if that's still okay?"

Alice rolled back, "Are you kidding? Yes! That's perfectly fine!" her smile was wide. "I can't believe that your back!"

Quinn smiled, "Well believe it, I'm here to stay."

####

Doc smiled as he rolled into his clinic after a long day, Jack was 6 feet under, Alice survived the kiss of death for the second time, Kendal decided to stay in Radiator Springs, and quite recently Quinn came back to stay as well.

Doc sighed contently as he finished shut and locking the doors, after the one incident involving Lightning, Mater, and endless of possibilities on the 1st of April.

A large yawn excepted though Doc's tired features as he found himself stretching before he went to his own personal quarters. His reading lamp was the only thing that was on in the room that lit the way to where Doc slept. _'Home sweet home'_ he thought as he's body lied down on the familiar grooves in the carpet where he frame always rested. He clicked off the reading light as he found himself closing his tired eyes, letting sleep come to him.

He felt a comforting sigh escape from his features as deep sleep started taking over his senses…

***knock knock knock***

Doc felt his eye frames crash together as he tried to forget the noise, shifting his position.

***knock knock knock***

He growled in frustration as he flicked the light back on. He quickly rose on his tires and opened the door to get to the clinic.

His clinic was dark, so dark in fact he was tempted on turning on his headlights… but what's the sense when you live in a place you know like the hood ornament on your own hood.

***knock knock knock***

He sighed an aggravated sigh as he rolled over to the main door, unlocked it, and open the door to find who was crazy enough to annoy Doctor Hudson at this hour… it better be an emergency.

When the door opened, his anger vanished. His features were soft at the surprising visitor, "What's the matter kiddo?"

Alice looked up at Doc as she seemed to hide her face in embarrassment. She seemed fine, nothing seemed out of place. Why was she here at this our?

Alice's tire scrapped the ground in nervousness, "I couldn't sleep…"

Doc eyes blinked in understanding, "Do you want something to help you sleep?" he knew how emotional trauma worked, sleepless nights, chills where you reflect the horrible memory, lose of apatite. What she went through… he wouldn't be surprised if she started getting depressed about herself.

But he got a reaction that was different then what he expected. Alice smiled sheepishly, "well, that's not quite what I had in mind…"

Doc raise a frame, normally he could predict where this was going… this on the other hand was a little difficult, "What did you have in mind?"

Alice's eyes looked up at Doc's, "You see, It's been awhile since I've slept…alone. And it kind of freaks me out…a bit. And I was wondering…" Her eyes sparkled in the twinkling light, "Can I spend the night here?"

Doc found himself chuckling lightly, "You missed me that much?" he asked with a joke hinted in his voice.

Alice smiled a genuine smile, "More than you know." Her eyes quivered back and forth, "When Jack took us… I wasn't sure what happened to you. There were a couple of times I thought you were dead." She let out a breath, "I just want to know if this is real. a new home, a new family." She half shrugged, "I guess I have a new life."

Doc felt himself smile, a father like smile and rolled over to Alice and embraced her, "here's to a new life." He said as he back off inside the clinic, holding the door open for her.

Alice smiled, "A new life…" she said as she rolled in to his clinic as the door shut quietly behind her… "let's just hope I don't screw it up."

A smacking sound was heard from inside the clinic. "Ow! Hey, what was that for?"

A sound of low grave chuckling was heard right after the remark, "Just a friendly reminder to knock it off."

'_she is incredible,' _Doc thought as he rested her down next to him_ 'her and her marvelous ring of hers…'_

Alice sighed contently as she snuggled along his side, trying to get comfortable. _'The rings that saved her life…her life rings."_

**Sadly this is then end of the story… for now! And just a reminder! Any life rings fans out there, keep your eyes out for the 2****nd****one! THANK YOU SOO MUCH FOR READING!!!!!!!!**


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